Paradox
by SamiWami
Summary: Ten and Rose have another bumpy ride in the TARDIS, and it lands them in a place they never imagined possible. There, they run into Nine, Rose, and Ten. Oh boy, this could get convoluted...
1. Chapter 1

**MWAHAHAHA! I'm finally back with Doctor Who story, and this is going to prove to be a very twisted and convoluted story. ^_^ I hope you all enjoy. I'm putting my favorite characters (sans Donna, Wilf, and the Master **though that is subject to change**) in the same place. I hope you all enjoy! Reviews favorites, and are my new drug! More reviews, faster updates! Enjoy!  
><strong>

Rose and the Doctor stumbled out of the TARDIS, looking back at the smoking space they had just evacuated. Coughing and waving her hand in front of her face to clear some of the air, Rose looked at the Doctor. "What's wrong with her, Doctor? That was the worst landing yet."

He frowned and shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "I don't know. The Haldafran Coil isn't supposed to gyrate like that. And the Boreon tubes are supposed to keep their contents on the _inside_ of the tubes. And the Libetern Valdavesh—"

Rose waved her hand at him, getting dizzy from the techno babble. "Yeah, I already got that somethin's wrong. Any idea what?"

He shook his head, and she could tell by the way he was bouncing on the balls of his feet that he was desperate to get back inside and check on his beloved TARDIS, despite the smoke. She put a hand on his arm, and his eyes immediately snapped to hers. "Doctor, it's gonna be alright, yeah? We're still alive, and we're still together. We don't seem to be in any immediate danger. We got time to figure this out."

He suddenly perked up, looking around them. "You're right, Rose. Time to start finding out when and where we are!" He grabbed her hand and dashed blindly down the little alley they had landed in. A smile spread across her face at the rush. She wouldn't give this up for the world. It didn't matter what dangers they faced—there was always something—or where they ended up. She would always be here for the Doctor, like she'd promised.

Her thoughts were cut off when she ran into him. Holding still for just a moment, he began pushing her back the way they had come. "We have to get out of here now."

"Why?" she asked, peeking around him. Her eyes fell on another blue police box, with the Doctor's last regeneration leaning easily against its doors, talking to a younger her. "Oh," she giggled as he dragged her back the way they had come. She always found it fascinating when they ran into themselves. While she loved her Doctor, it was always a pleasure to see him as he had once been. His face was set in the serious expression she remembered, and he ran a hand over his buzzed hair as Rose giggled at something he said.

But when she ran into the Doctor again, she nearly fell to the ground. "Oof! Now Doctor, really, what is it—" She stopped her tirade when she looked around to see him staring at himself.

Her Doctor, the one holding her hand, was staring at another him, his mouth gaping open. The Doctor standing in front of them, wearing the blue suit, was smiling easily at the both of them, hands buried in his pockets. "Hello, Doctor. Rose." He nodded to them both, staying in their path.

"No no no no no!" Her Doctor cut him off, taking a step back towards Rose. "You cannot be here. We cannot be here. The damage to the timeline—"

"Won't happen here," the Other Doctor cut him off, staying just as relaxed. He looked between their confused faces. "Do you not know where you are?" They just stared back with blank looks. He sighed, then pulled out his glasses and put them on. "You'll catch on soon enough, Doctor. Your mind will sense the difference in just a few moments."

Ignoring the Doctor, he focused again on Rose, now standing next to her Doctor. "Our Rose over there calls this the "paradox universe." I suppose that's the easiest way to explain it. Whenever a paradox happens, those beasts you encountered when you tried to save your dad and ended up touching baby you will be sent there, while the paradox they capture is sent here. Paradoxes live in this universe, yet somehow, the universe moves on."

"Certainly keeps you on your toes," said a female voice behind them. They wheeled to see Nine and Rose standing behind them, matching expressions of amusement on their faces. Rose looked between the pair in front of them and the Doctor behind them. Confused and unsure what else to think, she turned to face her Doctor, hoping he would tell her what was going on.

He seemed lost in his own thoughts, his lips pursed in a thoughtful expression. "Doctor?" she asked tentatively. She ignored the other two perking up at the word.

"I think… He's right, Rose. The timelines here are something I have never seen before. They make no logical sense—"

"By _your_ laws," his previous self interrupted, irritation lacing his voice. "This is something new. Adapt or go home."

The other Rose placed her hand on his arm to quiet him. "Doctor, don't be rude." He huffed in response and turned away, nearly stomping to the TARDIS. Rose put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from giggling. She remembered those days. They seemed so long ago. Her first Doctor had been abrupt and harsh. She'd had to stop him from doing something rude or stupid on a number of occasions. Ironic that one of the first things her Doctor now had declared about himself was that he was rude. Rude and not ginger.

She looked back to the Doctor behind them, who seemed to be dancing on the balls of his feet impatiently, looking back to the still-smoking TARDIS. Didn't matter which version of this Doctor she faced; he would always be so impatient and ready to go for adventure. Another thing she loved about him. She squeezed her Doctor's hand.

It seemed to drag him back to reality. He looked back at the TARDIS as his other self was doing, then looked back at Rose. "Well, what do you think? Should we fix the old girl up and get back to our own universe where everything makes sense?"

She could see the smile teasing at the corner of his lips that he was so desperately trying to suppress. Giving in to the urge, she beamed back at him, her tongue peaking between her teeth. "Well, she does need resting after all… And, Doctor, it's something new…"

He pulled her closer to him and nearly hugged her, but his eyes fell on the other Doctor and other Rose watching them with amusement, and he kept himself still. The other Doctor chuckled at him. Then he walked around the two to stand at the other Rose's side. "Well then, Rose, it sounds like they'd like to stay. Think Nine will be up for it?"

"Nine?" Rose asked with curiosity.

The other Doctor turned to face her, accommodation on his face. "The abrupt Northern Wind in his TARDIS over there is my ninth regeneration. This is my tenth."

"Tenth?" she asked, looking to her Doctor in confusion. _Ten?_ He shrugged noncommittally and wouldn't meet her eyes.

"You'll have to face it some day, old boy," the other Doctor warned. He tutted slowly, but the smile on his face bellied his words. "Come on, then. We should have this conversation inside our TARDIS. Not for anyone's ears. You'll cause a panic in this world."

Holding his arm out to the other Rose, he led her through the blue doors. Rose, still somewhat bewildered at what she had just been told and angry at her Doctor for not saying anything on his own, grabbed his hand and towed him through the doors after her.


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter has some necessary explanation, so not too much action, sorry… I promise the next chapter will go up faster, will have some fun blush-inducing moments for the two main characters, a bit more explanation, and then we'll really start cooking!**

**Seriously, folks, more reviews=faster writing. Leave a review if you'd like to see more!**

Both Roses shared the captain's seat while "Nine" leaned against the console away from them and the "Ten" they had run into here right across from them. Her Doctor was leaning against the railing, arms crossed over his chest, looking thoroughly wretched. As he should be.

The Other Rose put her arm around Rose, squeezing gently. "You'll have to forgive him eventually. How was he supposed to tell you? When was he supposed to tell you?"

She stole a glance towards her Doctor. He peaked up at her from beneath his wild brown hair, those puppy dog eyes of his begging her forgiveness. She looked away just as quickly. She wasn't ready to forgive him yet.

"So let me get this straight: You all did something to end up here. This is you, Rose, and "Nine"s TARDIS. Other … "Ten" here travels around with you guys. Is that right?" They both nodded to encourage her. "What did we do to land here?"

The Other Ten shook his head. "No, if you had caused a paradox to be stuck here, you would know it. No, it is far more likely the two of you ended up here by an accident in time. Or maybe your TARDIS brought you here because she felt you had something you needed to learn from this place. She has a penchant for doing that." He patted the console behind him lovingly, and the background murmur of machines picked up a few notches.

The Other Rose shook her hair out of her face, hopping off the captains seat. She turned back to look at Rose, a patient smile on her face. "I know this is a lot to take in. It was a lot for me when this Doctor first showed up. After they'd convinced me who he was, that is." She winked playfully at the Other Ten. "I'll show you to your room. Let you take a bath, relax some. You should be able to find your way around her when you're ready to join us again."

Her Doctor stepped forward as if to stop them from leaving his sights when they walked past him. Probably felt it would be dangerous if they got separated or something. But she was still sore at him for not telling him the truth on his own, and she knew from the comforting similar presence of the TARDIS that they would be just fine. She waved him off, disappearing into the hull of the ship.

The room she was left in wasn't anything like her room back on the TARDIS… No, this Rose would probably be living there. And while it felt weird, not being in the same room, she couldn't very well ask her old self to give up the room, could she? It wasn't like her and the Doctor would be staying here long.

Ten regenerations. _Ten?_ It had been scary enough the first time it had happened with her around. She'd guessed, from the way he knew what was going on, and from what Sara Jane had said, that wasn't the first time he'd regenerated. But _ten_? What had he done with all of those lives? How many years had he actually lived? How many companions had he had, and left behind?

How did she compare to all of those adventures and companions?

How could she possibly compete?

After what felt like hours of having her head buried in her hands, she fixed her makeup in the bathroom mirror before wandering back into the halls to find the control room. Hardly anyone had changed their positions since she had left—Other Rose was curled up with a book now—and she couldn't even say for certain whether they had even moved the TARDIS or not.

"Back already?" Other Ten called out, fiddling with some sparky bits on the floor.

"Yeah, 'm getting a bit hungry," she admitted, looking sheepishly towards her Doctor before looking quickly away. He was watching her, looking like he was trying to gauge her reaction. He knew she couldn't stay mad at him for very long. She just hoped for a little bit longer he thought she was angry rather than sad.

"How about fish and chips?" Other Ten suggested, wiping the grease from his hands on a rag he pulled out of one of his pockets.

"That sounds fantastic," both Roses said at the same time, giggling when they finished and Nine looked up to scowl at them.

He spun a few dials on the control panel before Nine walked up, swatting him away as he took over. "C'mon now, we've been over this. She's big enough for the both of us. You know as well as I do this panel was made for more than one pilot."

"It would also go better if you didn't jump around like a maniac, but you're not about to do that," Nine tersely pointed out.

Rose giggled over there words, looking at Other her. "Are they always like this?"

She shrugged. "You wouldn't find more different personalities in any other place."

"I remember him being like that, but I guess I didn't realize how different they were until I could see them side by side. Sides, I think your Ten is different than mine."

She looked over. Her Doctor had crept closer to the two of them, standing against the railing behind them. She sighed, motioning him over. He didn't hesitate for a minute before he stepped up to join her. "Look, you promise to tell me stuff from now on? I hate the way I keep findin' out about these things."

"Yes, Rose, I'm sorry. I know I said I'd explain later, after last time, but, well, later never really seemed to come, and then this all happened, and this isn't how I wanted it to happy and I'm so sorry I didn't tell you myself. I'm sorry. I—"

She shut him up with a hand on his face. "Alright, alright. Just don't keep surprisin' me with other yous."

The TARDIS hit a bump in the travel, forcing her Doctor to grab on to their chair. When it finally came to a rest and the sound had died down, the Other Ten was the first to the door. "Well, Rose, your favorite chippy."

Other Rose sighed. "If you keep takin' me here, it isn't gonna be my favorite for much longer. Isn't there some intergalactic restaurant you haven't taken me to yet?" she asked in a teasing tone. But from what Rose knew of her Doctor, she would be the only one able to catch the tease.

She was right. Other Ten furrowed his brow, looking at her in confusion. "Well, if you'd rather… But I don't think you'd like the cuisine there. It's a bit… tougher, harder to chew. Plus when it starts wiggling off the plate, most mortals find that unsettling."

Other Rose rolled her eyes, looped her arm in his, and towed her out the door with her, Nine following placidly behind them. Rose and the Doctor were left alone in the strange TARDIS. He offered his arm to her, a sheepish look still on his face, but she pushed all the thoughts, worries, and doubts away. For now, he was here, and they would have yet another adventure. She took his arm, and followed the others out.

Rose's Favorite Chippy turned out to be the one she had gone to with her first Doctor after he had taken her to see the world destroyed. She'd paid, of course—he didn't have any money. She really hoped it wouldn't be the case this time.

When Rose and her Doctor caught up with the other three, they'd already gotten a booth in the back where others wouldn't hear them and five baskets of fish and chips.

"Well, Rose," her Other self said to her, "I know you've still got questions for us. Please, go ahead and ask them. It's better to get them out of the way now." She smiled at her, trying to put her more at ease.

"So the TARDIS you all travel around in is… Nine's, right?" They all nodded, even Nine, who was currently stuffing chips into his mouth.

"And which one are you traveling with, Rose?"

Her Other self laughed. "I travel with both of them, of course." She opened her mouth to protest the answer, but Other Rose cut her off. "Nine was my original companion. We were the first ones here. We ran into 10 here eventually, and he's been with us ever since."

"So where's your TARDIS then?" she asked the Other Ten.

Sadness flooded his usually happy face, and she immediately regretted asking the question. Silence stretched on in their little corner until Other Rose patted his arm.

"I did something… stupid, and lost her. I deserve to be here. But I was lucky enough not to be left here alone, and found these two." He squeezed Other Rose's hand on his arm, gratitude creeping into his sadness.

"We ended up here because of somethin' stupid I did, so I guess it's all even," Other Rose explained, facing them again. "If Nine is right about your time line… Remember when you went back and tried to save your dad, and then those creepy monsters showed up and swallowed the Doctor?"

Rose could feel that familiar panic welling up in her, and nodded. "Well, in our timelines, Dad didn't sacrifice himself. The monster swallowed up everyone and everything there. Least we ended up here, together." She patted Nine's arm too. He shook his head, but amusement was in his eyes.

They looked down at their now empty trays. "If it's all the same to you," Other Rose said, "I'd like to get back. We just finished getting rid of that slime monster—" she plowed on before the two Doctors she sat between could interrupt with the creature's actual name, "—and I'm exhausted." She slipped past them, pointing to Other Ten before she headed for the door.

"What was the pointing for?" Rose asked.

Other Ten sighed, hanging his head. "My turn to pay, I suppose."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait, everyone! School got in the way. Real life swallowed me whole, I'm afraid. But now, with finals out of the way and school at rest until January, I've been spit back out again and have a new chapter for you all. Ah, the tension. :D I love blush-inducing moments. This chapter is a bit fluffy, but gets us rolling into the action of the story. I hope you all enjoy, and thanks to those of you who are still sticking with me!**

**Reviews are my happy pills! More reviews=more chapters. Also, reviews are better than favorites!**

Their footsteps echoed around them as Rose and the Doctor walked down one of the many labyrinthy halls of the TARDIS. She could feel his eyes darting between her and the wall, the tension palpable. She sighed and stopped, turning to look at him.

"I really am sorry, Rose."

She chewed on her lip. "You promised to stop hiding things from me, yeah? We're squared away now, alright? Let's move on."

He smiled at her, turning to lead her down the hall. "So why d'ya think we ended up here, if we didn't cause a paradox?"

Her Doctor shrugged. "It could be any number of things. We've ended up where we weren't supposed to before. Remember when we went to the paradox world? We should have never been able to get there, let alone back out. The TARDIS is a strange girl, and I'll never understand her." He patted the nearby wall lovingly, and she chirped back at him.

"D'ya think we're here to learn something from these Doctors? We'll never get a chance to have more than one of you in the same place again. You never let that happen." She poked him teasingly in the ribs.

"It's possible. Best to let it play out, see where it takes us."

"I've gotta admit, it's pretty weird seeing myself. I dunno how you always deal with it."

"When your job is to handle all the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey... stuff out there, you start to get used to—"

He was cut off by a bang coming from a hall ahead of them. They both looked up to see two people coming around the corner. Other Rose and Other Ten to be exact. Rose was wrapped around the Doctor, hands tangled into his hair and legs wrapped around his hips. Another bang sounded as they collided with another wall. The Doctor used it to deepen their kiss, until they went banging through a doorway.

Rose and the Doctor stared after the departed couple. Their eyes slid to each other, but shot immediately away. Rose pressed her hands against her flaming cheeks, a nervous giggle escaping.

"I think I'll go help Nine with..."

"Ha ha! Yeah, I think I'll... Yeah..." They turned in opposite directions hurrying away from one another and the now-closed door of Other Rose and Ten.

_A few hours later..._

Rose had managed to find the library. The Doctor hadn't been kidding when he said the TARDIS liked to rearrange herself. Nine's layout was completely different. She shouldn't have been surprised, though. This had been closer to what it started out for her as, though it did have a flair all its own.

She'd found the exact same novel she'd been reading before they'd ended up here. Anything to take her mind off... She leaned against a chair, letting her feet soak in the pool. And the TARDIS always had the loveliest sky views, even if they were artificial.

The door creaked open. She looked up, wondering who had sought her out. The Doctor was walking towards her. The memory of earlier flashed through her mind, and her face burned the same shade of scarlet. She pushed the book closer to her face, hoping to hide behind it.

"So this is where you wandered off to. I shouldn't be surprised; you always did love the library."

Unable to come up with a coherent response, she hunched closer to her book.

"Rose? What's wrong? Your heart rate has increased, and so has your core temperature."

She groaned and pressed the book against her face. Surely he couldn't have forgotten that quickly? She really did not want to talk about this.

There was a moment of silence in which she could only assume he was studying her. Then he made a noise of surprise, and sat down in a chair close to her. "Oh no. Did you witness Rose and I's little... display earlier? I thought I detected someone else nearby, but I was a bit... distracted."

_Oh. This was _Other_ Ten._ She struggled to slow her breathing, and set the book down next to her. "I'm sorry, I mistook you for my Doctor." 

That crooked grin of his crossed his face. "Ah, he was there with you. That would certainly explain the embarrassment, then."

She chewed on her lip, looking him over. He certainly looked... satisfied. She blushed at the thought. "So where is Rose?"

"She's still sleeping. Can't keep up with my superior biology. Such a pity, too. We—"

Rose pressed her hands over her ears. "Not ready to hear that, thanks."

A cocky grin had replaced the sideways one. "You two are still in that stage then."

She stared at the ripples in the pool for a while, kicking her feet back and forth. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Ask as many as you like. I know this whole ordeal has you confused."

"I thought Rose was Nine's companion. And yet you two..."

"When I come from, Rose and I had a completely different relationship. So when I came here, and she was still only friends with Nine, I couldn't help myself. I may have pushed the progression of our relationship forward a bit in time."

"What happened to your Rose, then?"

The same deep sadness from the chippie crossed his face. It made her want to get up and hug him, but she stayed rooted to the spot, still a little embarrassed. "I lost my Rose. She promised me forever, but she didn't get a choice. She was taken from me."

"You mean, I..."

"No, no! Rose is still very much alive. Just... not mine anymore."

"I... don't understand."

"You will in time."

She chewed her lip again, looking from his deep eyes to the changing water at her feet.

"Does Nine know about you two?"

"How could he not? I come out smelling like her most mornings. And we share the same room." Rose's heart fluttered and she closed her eyes. She had to be dreaming this. Even in a parallel universe, this could not be happening.

"You think this is a dream." She jumped. Was he reading her mind? She knew he could do that, but he'd never crossed that boundary before. "Your thoughts are plain on your face, my dear. You never were good at hiding your emotions."

She sighed, hanging her head. So many times she thought the Doctor had caught on to her feelings for that exact reason. But either he was ignoring it as steadfastly as she was, or he was a lot dumber than he usually was.

"You love him, don't you?"

She looked up at him, embarrassed by the tears she could feel in her eyes. "Do you even have to ask?"

"If it makes it any easier, he loves you just as much." He moved from his chair, kneeling next to her. He put his hand against her face and she leaned into it, a watery smile on her lips. "Give it time and don't give up, Rose. He's not ready for you yet, but he will be."

"But what if we get separated before it can happen?" she choked.

"He'll never stop trying. I ended up here because I wasn't willing to let her go. I tried things that broke every law my people had ever established to get her back. I ripped my TARDIS apart. But I was lucky enough to get a second chance here, with Rose once more."

"And what about your Rose? Do you know what happened to her?"

He smiled sadly back, sitting on his heels. "She's happy, and safe. I did everything in my power to make sure of that. I just kept trying, because I was selfish, and didn't want to be alone, even though she wasn't alone. I'd lost so many companions. Donna, Martha... Something in me snapped. I didn't want to be alone. And being here is my punishment. Heaven of a punishment, if you ask me."

She giggled, pushing at the tears that were threatening to escape. Even though she had no idea who he was talking about, she could hear the sincerity in her voice. And it made her feel better. Her Doctor might not be this honest with her, but she just knew he felt the way Other Ten claimed he did. She just had to stay with him, and let him know that she would never leave. She had to make him feel safe again. Then, just maybe, he'd be ready for her.

Her little reverie was interrupted as the door opened again. Her Doctor stood there, looking curiously at the two of them. "Nine thinks it's time we got back home, before we cause any damage to our own timelines. Was I really that grouchy?"

Rose giggled, getting to her feet. When Other Ten stood next to her, she wrapped her arms around him tightly, pressing her ear against his chest to hear his double heartbeat. "Thank you."

He squeezed her back, and she thought he pressed a gentle kiss into her hair. "Any time, lovely Rose. You will always deserve it."

She pulled away and walked past her Doctor, ignoring his questioning gaze. Best to let him stew on it. They were back in the main room in no time.

"You two ready to be off, then? We're here, same place we picked you up, just a few minutes later," Nine called as they appeared.

"Thank you," Rose said to him as well, walking to his side. She squeezed his hand and beamed up at him. They hadn't really gotten in the hug zone until his latest incarnation, if she recalled correctly. He smiled gently back at her, the first smile she'd seen on him since they'd gotten here. "It was good to see you like this again, my friend. You've changed so much, but you're always there for me."

"I must disagree, Rose," he answered softly. "You're the one always there for me. It takes a special person to put up with a gruff soldier like me."

She just smiled and went back to her Doctor, linking arms with him. The two Doctors followed them out as they left the comforting doors.

"It's too bad we couldn't stay longer," her Doctor told them. "Even though we're the same person, we all seem to see things differently. It's been refreshing having someone who can keep up with my babble." Rose elbowed him, sticking her tongue out.

"If by some chance you end up back here again, feel free to track us down," Other Ten called after them as they walked down the street they had come.

"Will do!" Her Doctor called back with a wave as they rounded the corner.

And stopped dead.

And took a few steps back.

"Um, are you sure you got the coordinates right, old boy?" Her Doctor called back before the other two had time to go back inside. "You said five minutes after we left, right? Not five before?"

"No, I'm positive," Nine barked, the scowl back on his face. "I may have missed the mark by several months the first time I brought Rose home, but I've double checked the coordinates and brought us to exactly when we needed to be. Why would you ask such a thing?"

They looked back in front of them at the empty alley. "Because the TARDIS is not here."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes: Dun dun dun! This story was originally supposed to be short. But then I started thinking about all my favorite characters, and how I could possibly incorporate them into the story. Now I have an actual plot to the story! This marks the first action of the piece. I really hope you enjoy!**

**Reviews are my drug. More reviews=faster chapters. Thanks for reading!**

_Previously..._

"_Are you sure you got the coordinates right, old boy?" Her Doctor called back before the other two had time to go back inside. "You said five minutes after we left, right? Not five before?"_

"_No, I'm positive," Nine barked, the scowl back on his face. "I may have missed the mark by several months the first time I brought Rose home, but I've double checked the coordinates and brought us to exactly when we needed to be. Why would you ask such a thing?"_

_They looked back in front of them at the empty alley. "Because the TARDIS is not here."_

"What?" the other two Doctors echoed. "What do you mean the TARDIS is not there?"

"Maybe you did get the coordinates wrong," Other Ten said as they jogged over to their side.

Nine looked uneasy as he peered down the empty alley. "Yeah, maybe..." He pushed a hand over his buzzed head, looking lost and confused.

They all tried to walk down the alley at the same time, resulting in bumping into each other. Rose followed after them as the three Doctors trailed down the alley to where the TARDIS had once stood.

There looked to be scorch marks on the brick wall behind where the police box had once stood. Maybe Rose was imagining it. If there was actually something there, one of the Doctors would have noticed it by now. One of the Tens certainly would have tried licking it.

"Shall we... get back to the TARDIS and check the data?" Other Ten suggested, a puzzled look on his face. The other two nodded in agreement, but it took Rose turning back first for any of them to move.

"I don't understand it. I double checked the coordinates. Suppose the old girl's thrown us off again? Is she maybe a bit jealous about there being another one of her around?" Nine asked the others as they entered the bigger-on-the-inside control room.

Rose flopped down on the captain's chair as they all crowded around the display screen to read the strange symbols.

"Wha's goin' on?" a sleepy voice behind her asked. She turned to see Other Rose standing in a tank top and shorts, fuzzy slippers on her feet and her hair still mussed up. Rose stifled the uncomfortable feeling growing in her and patted the chair next to her, welcoming her over.

"Seems the boys are havin' a bit of a hard time with the navigation."

"Wouldn't be the first time," she said, sitting down next to her.

Nine thumped his hand on the control panel. "I knew I was right! I double checked the coordinates. We are when and where we are supposed to be."

"Did you accidentally engage the cloaking device before we left? Set the TARDIS a few seconds out of sync with the rest of time?" suggested Other Ten.

"No! When Rose and I left, it was smoking like the lava pits of Fragdulus. We were just going to take a quick poke around and go back. I thought she'd be safe, like she always is."

Other Rose coughed softly, interrupting their debate. "Doctors? What's that blinky blue light over there on the console?"

Nine's mouth still hanging open mid-retort, they all turned to look at the two Roses before their eyes slid collectively to the blinking light mentioned on the other side of the console. A deep sense of confusion set in on all three faces.

"It means..." started Other Ten.

"We have—" cut in Ten.

"A message. But that's impossible!" finished Nine. "No one still alive has the ability to contact this ship."

"Nothin's impossible, Doctor," Rose chirped. "Isn't it you taught me that?"

He waved her off, scooting over to examine the offending light with his sonic screwdriver. Other Ten sighed in exasperation, rolling his eyes before punching the button. Nine scowled angrily at him for interrupting his experiment, but both were cut off as a holographic projection flickered into view. A blonde man, shorter than the Doctors, hovered in front of them.

"No." Other Ten's face paled. Everyone looked between him and the hologram.

"Who is it?" Other Rose asked. She slid off the chair and padded to his side, wrapping her arms around him in concern.

Before he could answer, the hologram began speaking. "Doctor. You never cease to amaze me."

Rose watched as the other two Doctors fell still, watching the hologram with analytical expressions.

"Here I am, stuck in this... universe. Stuck. Just like I was at the end of the universe. All this time, I've been wondering what I was going to do. And like the little problem solver he is, the Doctor drops the answer in my lap."

A devilish smirk slid across the man's face. "Thank you for the TARDIS, Doctors. I know there are more than one of you here. The TARDIS you left behind picked up your signal. Really, she just had a blown gasket. I can't believe you left her behind for that." He tutted softly, patting the console.

"Don't bother trying to track me. I've scrambled the signal. You'll never find us. Until I want to be found, that is. Don't worry. We'll meet soon enough." The hologram clicked off. An eerie silence filled the room as all five people stood stock still.

Rose was the first to move, sliding off the captain's chair. "Doctor? Who was that?"

All three Doctors looked at her, stunned expressions on their faces. Nine swallowed hard, running a hand across his hair again. Other Ten's face was grim. "The Master. The Master has the TARDIS."


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Notes: Sorry for the prolonged absence, everyone. It's my final semester of college, and I have 20 credit hours and I had two jobs. Now that my jobs are mostly over, and I only have a month left of school, I'll try to be a bit more regular with this fic. I'll make a tentative promise to update it every two weeks minimum from here on out.**

**Reviews are my drug. More reviews, more ideas, more fanfiction-y goodness for you!**

_Previously..._

_Rose was the first to move, sliding off the captain's chair. "Doctor? Who was that?"_

_All three Doctors looked at her, stunned expressions on their faces. Nine swallowed hard, running a hand across his hair again. Other Ten's face was grim. "The Master. The Master has the TARDIS."_

"Who is this 'Master'?" Rose asked, still not moving from her perch on the captain's chair.

Her Ten was too shocked to answer. He and Nine just stared at the space the Master had vanished from. Other Ten shook his head. "He's a Time Lord."

Rose's brow furrowed in confusion. "But you're the last of the Time Lords. Time War, everyone dead but you. The Lonely God. How many times have we been over this?"

"I don't know how he still exists," Nine cut in. "I watched them all burn. Ten, can you explain this to me? Because I'm pretty sure he is dead."

Other Ten hunched his shoulders. "It's rather a long story."

Everyone either leaned towards him or back against the consul. "It's not like we're going anywhere."

Keeping his eyes fixed on the floor, he started talking. "After I lost Rose, I had a new companion, Martha. We stopped to refuel in Cardiff. Apparently Jack runs the Torchwood team stationed there."

"Ah yes, busy rebuilding the world," her Doctor chimed in.

Rose sat up on the seat. "Hold on. You said that when we left Jack behind on the space station. Is that what you meant? How did he get to Cardiff in the twenty-first century?"

He waved his hand at her. "You accidentally made Jack immortal when you brought him back to life. His vortex manipulator got him back to Earth, but was malfunctioning thanks to the Dalek attack and he ended up in the nineteenth century, had to live his way back to the present day."

Rose slumped, stunned. She'd done that to Jack? How was he ever supposed to forgive her? Other Rose, having come here before she ever even met Jack, just stood next to Other Ten, her arms still around him for support.

"Anyways," continued Other Ten. "When we stopped in Cardiff, he tried to catch up with me. Hoped I could "fix him." He's a fixed point in time now. I've never faced that with a person. I tried to run from him. Stubborn man jumped onto the side of the TARDIS and held on for dear life, even as she went to the end of the universe to try to shake him."

"Wait, you went to the end of the universe? That's impossible," Nine cut in.

Other Ten held up his hands. "I thought so too, but it happened. Do you want me to continue?" When no one jumped in he took a deep breath. "We found a small colony of humans trying to survive. They had some myth about a utopia, somewhere other humans still existed and where they'd be safe. A scientist was helping them build a rocket to get there, a man named Yana. While Jack and I were trying to fix the rocket after it was sabotaged, Martha noticed he had a fob watch."

Both the other two Doctors stiffened at the mention. "I'm... not following. What's so special about a watch?" Rose asked.

"It's not so much the watch that's important," her Doctor explained slowly, his eyes fixed on Other Ten. "It's really just a vessel. Time Lords have many tricks up their sleeves to survive. One of them is to rewrite their biology. In order to escape notice as a Time Lord, one can rewrite his biology to any other creature in the universe, within reason of course, and store their consciousness, their true selves, in a watch."

"I'm still not following."

"Neither did Martha when I had to do it." Other Ten had an unamused half smile on his face. "The point is, this Professor Yana was actually the Master in disguise. He took the TARDIS, became Prime Minister, and brought all of those people through time to try to destroy the world, and probably the rest of the universe with it. I guess it makes sense that he's here; he caused enough paradoxes. Even had to install a paradox machine to pull off half the stuff he did."

She still didn't understand half his story, but really, she was used to that with the Doctor. What she did understand made her sad. Hearing that another Time Lord was alive had to give the Doctor a little bit of hope. But from the sounds of it, this guy was no good. Way to mess with a guy's already broken hearts.

"So now what do we do about it?" she asked after everyone had been quiet for too long.

"Going back to before he took the TARDIS is no good. This universe, while taking all the paradoxes and allowing them to co-exist, makes it physically impossible to create a paradox." Other Ten and Nine started pacing in a mirrored way that would have been comical if the situation wasn't so tense. "He's right about not being able to track him. If the Master was ever good at anything, it was staying hidden until he wanted to be found."

"Does he still have that ridiculous goatee?" her Doctor asked out of nowhere.

Other Ten paused, smiling back at him. "Nah, he was almost as handsome as us. Even had a wife."

"Oh did he?"

"Yeah, she shot him." The smile slipped off his face. "He refused to regenerate. We may never have been best friends, but..." Rose understood without him finishing the sentence. He'd had to make the choice to kill his entire people to save the universe. Watching someone who had nearly brought the race back to life for him die again had to have hurt almost as much as Other Ten said about losing her.

"So what do we do?" Nine asked again.

"Only thing we can do is wait until he makes a move, finds us. Not a lot of other options."

**A/N: So obviously we've got a bit more adventure time before a showdown with the Master. So now I pose a question to you, my lovely readers. There are a number of ways I could take this. I want to know what **_**you**_** want to see. Choose from the options below, or suggest your own:**

**~More sexy fun times with Other Rose and Other Ten**

**~A surprise, semi-forced date between Rose and Ten**

**~Donna's arrival!**

**~Adventure involving an alien baddy**

**Click that nice little link below and let me know your thoughts.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: A new chapter of **_**Paradox**_** is in for your enjoyment! Imoen Grace was the only one who responded to the "what happens next" question, so this chapter is dedicated to you. We get a little one-on-one time with Nine and Rose. This is a bit of a one-shot between them, so don't get your hopes up for more. It would just be cruel to Nine.**

**We've got a few more chapters until the Master is ready to make his debut, so look forward to more fanfictiony goodness. Reviews are my drug and make me work faster. More reviews means an update sooner than two weeks. Enjoy, and be sure to click on that shiny little link at the bottom of the page.**

Rose slowed to a stop, breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth like her gym teacher had taught her. With the stress of not knowing what the Master had in store and them all agreeing to stay cooped up in the TARDIS to stay safe, she'd missed running around like they usually did. There were plenty of halls that went everywhere. So she went for a jog.

The only problem is, she had no idea where she was.

Her room was close to the control room. Other than to find the library (and the Doctor had gone with her the first time), she'd never needed to go any deeper. She looked around. The lights were dimmer in this area. That meant no one really came down this way. Great, if she was lost, they may never find her. Well, as long as she didn't starve to death...

She opened a door next to her, hoping to find some clue as to where she should go. When she opened the door, a cacophony of blinking lights, whistles, and horns chased her out again. Alright, not that one.

"Doctor, the toys you keep around this place..." she muttered to herself as she moved to the next door, cracking it open gingerly.

Nothing alarming went off.

She poked her head in, looking around. There was a soft chirping, like the TARDIS made when they were all quiet. A dim blue light filled the room. "What are you hiding in here, old girl?" She took a few, slow steps into the room.

With a whir, the lights turned up a bit more. She gasped as she looked around her. The floor was carpeted in golden grass, spreading throughout the biggest room she'd seen in the ship to date. The farther she got into it, the more she realized it really was golden grass, not carpet. It wasn't flat either. A hill rose up in front of her. Distracted from her earlier purpose, she started to climb it.

She craned her neck back, looking up at the sky. It was a vibrant, beautiful orange. So different from anything she'd ever seen.

At the top of the hill was a tree with silver leaves, glinting at her in the orange light. Something about this place seemed familiar, but she knew she'd never been here.

She laid down on the grass, a little away from the tree. After her jog, the grass felt amazing. She could almost take a nap here. But she couldn't take her eyes away from that beautiful sky.

"You got so lost you ended up here, huh?"

She sat up with a jolt, looking around. Her first Doctor stood on the hill behind her. She smiled at him and patted the ground next to her. He looked her over, shaking his head as a slight smile spread across his own face. He tugged his jacket closer and flopped onto the ground next to her.

"What is this place, Doctor? I've never seen a room in the TARDIS anything like this."

His smile took on an edge of sadness. "It's the Gallifrey room."

She looked around her with wide eyes. No wonder it seemed familiar. He didn't talk about it a lot, but he had told her a thing or two about Gallifrey. "How come I never knew this was here?" He shifted uncomfortably, focusing on the sky above him with a slight scowl. "Doctor... You can tell me. It's just us, yeah? No... hyperactive Ten to deal with."

He closed his eyes, and his shaking shoulders were her only indication that he was laughing. He opened his eyes to look at her again, the smile fading away. "I know how this sounds but... This place is mine. It's all I have left."

She moved her hand to cover his. He squeezed it lightly back. She quirked a quick smile at him before turning her face back up to the sky above her. A large moon or sun, she wasn't sure which, hovered on the horizon in front of her.

After the silence had stretched on for a while, she squeezed his hand back. "So. Interestin' setup you lot have here."

"You mean the lot of us running around in the same space and time? Yeah. Somethin' I never thought was possible. I mean, I've run into multiple versions of myself before. But it was always brief. We accomplished very little, didn't change anything. Not like what we've been out and about in lately. Definitely a lot to get used to."

She smiled a bit at the tone beneath his words. But then she started chewing on her bottom lip. "And... Rose and... Ten... You..?"

"Know about it? Yeah. How could I not? 's not like they're discreet or anything."

"And you're alright with it?"

The grass rustled beneath them as he turned his head towards her. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Memories of a locked hospital room, of a discussion of "dancing", floated through her mind. Her cheeks burned, and she had to fight not to turn away from him again. "Well... When we were trapped in a hospital during the German air raid, I got the impression..." She trailed off as his face creased in a confused look. "Ah. Right. The fiasco with Dad was before World War II. Still..."

"What is it, Rose?"

"It doesn't bother you, even a little?"

The silence went on for way too long. She was worried she'd said something wrong. Just when she was going to apologize, he sighed, dropping her hand. He sat up, rubbing a hand over his face. "Because it's you, and we're going to get you out of here soon... I'll be honest, Rose. I'm... Well... Look, it's not like I've never been interested in—"

She sat up next to him. "Dancing?" He looked at her, confused. She waved her hand. "Inside joke. Doctor, are you telling me that you are... interested in me?" She swallowed hard, her face burning again. Had she really said that out loud? To the Doctor?

"Yes."

Why was she still surprised by his frankness?

"But that doesn't mean Ten and my Rose's relationship bothers me."

"How is that possible?"

He got to his feet, holding his hand out to her. She took it, letting him pull her to his feet. He didn't release her immediately, though. He held her close to him, looking down into her face. "All I am is a crusty old soldier. I'm destruction and death wherever I go. You're young, kind, so full of life. You deserve so much more than anything I have to offer. I know how the both of you feel about me. I may get cross with him, but I was glad Ten showed up and could give Rose what I always wanted to but never could. I'm alright with being alone if that means she's happy."

Rose gaped up at him, feeling tears sting her eyes. She'd seen him sacrifice for countless others. She knew he'd sacrificed his entire people for the sake of the universe and how much that hurt him. She never knew he'd been struggling with this for as long as she knew him. One hand on his jumper and one sliding around to the back of his head, she pulled him towards her, covering his own surprised mouth with her own.

For a moment he just stood there, stunned. Then his hold tightened around her, pulling her closer to him. She ran her hands over his buzzed hair, wishing she could hug him as tightly as she wanted but still kiss him. She could feel his two hearts thudding against her chest.

They pulled apart slowly, staring at each other. He took another step back, holding one of her hands in his own. "Thank you."

"For the kiss? Doctor, if you would've given me some sort of clue that you were even half as interested in me as I was in you, you could've gotten a kiss a long time ago." She was grinning ear to ear, her tongue poking out just a little between her teeth.

He didn't smile back. "For listening to me. For taking my hand and running off into the stars with me."

She sobered up herself, giving his hand a squeeze. "I should be thankin' you for all of that. Doctor..."

He squeezed her hand back before turning away from her, dragging her with him out of the Gallifreyan room. "Let's get you back to your own Doctor, alright?"

_Doctor..._ she thought as a single tear trailed down her cheek with the safety of his back to her. _You didn't have to struggle alone for so long._

But if you had to pick between staying with him and going back with your own Doctor, you know who you would pick, a voice said somewhere in the back of her mind.

She shuddered. It wasn't even a fair choice. It's not like she was choosing someone else over the Doctor. She squeezed his hand once more. Even though he had changed into her current Doctor, she'd never forget this one. She loved him for all of who he was and had been. Silently, she renewed her promise to him: She would stay with him forever.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Sorry for the last chapter. It didn't turn out as well as I wanted it to. But **_**now**_** we are getting into the fun bits! Is that... No, impossible! Is that a bit of plot coming up on the horizon I see?**

**As always, read and review. I love my readers, and you keep me writing. Stay posted; I'll try to get this updated quickly.**

As soon as they rounded the last corner to the control room, a loud voice was raised, sounding like it was echoing around the room to be in more places than one. Rose and Nine looked at each other and hurried forward.

They stopped when they saw the two Tens and the Other Rose standing in front of the console. The sound was coming from both of the Tens trying to speak over each other. They were bouncing back and forth on the balls of their feet, waving their hands to alternately try to shush the other or elaborate on their point.

Nine took his hand out of hers, bringing it to his lips. Pressing his fingers in tight, he let out a high-pitched whistle. The noise trailed off and they all turned to look at him.

"What's going on?"

Both of the Tens started speaking at the same time. "We saw a blinking light—" "—And then this whirr started going off and I ran over to—" "—signal from the Yarrod Quadrant—" "—really hurt when I smacked up against—"

"STOP!" Nine stared them both down sternly. Once they'd fallen silent again, still bouncing on their heels, he turned to Other Rose. "What's going on?"

She looked between the men on either side of her, a smile quirking her lips at their disappointment from not being allowed to speak. "Seems these boys here have locked on to the Master's signal."

"We were about to follow it, but I know how grouchy you get when we touch "your" TARDIS," Other Ten jumped in.

Nine's glare didn't relent any. He walked towards them, eying the screen with the symbols Rose never could understand. His brow furrowed a bit more, and he looked between the screen and some blinking lights on the console. "Well, we were waiting until we could find the Master." He started twisting one of the handles. Without any more words, the other two Doctors sprang into action, leaping around the console and twisting nobs and pressing levers.

Rose moved over to the captain's chair, smiling at Other Rose as she hopped up next to her. With the tale-tell "whoop," the TARDIS shuddered into action and off on the trail they went. Her grin broadened. Even with some of the rough landings, she wouldn't trade traveling like this for anything in the worlds.

The noise of the engine quieted down. The Doctors grouped around the display screen, trying to read the symbols written there. Other Ten was the first to step back with a shrug. "Well, better find out where we are." With that sideways grin of his, he held his hand out to Other Rose. She didn't even hesitate as she hopped off the seat, took his hand, and practically skipped with him out the door. Rose watched them go, smiling to herself. Her Doctor appeared at her side, sheepishly offering her his hand as well. She climbed down more slowly from the chair, took his hand, and walked between the two Doctors to the door.

A shriek sounded outside; the voice Rose recognized as her own. The three of them charged forward and out the door.

The light outside blinded her completely. She blinked the blackness away from her vision, stopping to see Other Rose and Other Ten standing a little ways away from them, hands still clasped, blinking around them in confusion.

"What's wrong?" Nine barked at them.

"Huh?" 

"You screamed," Rose reminded her other self, stepping towards her in concern.

"Did I?" She looked at Other Ten, confusion just sinking in deeper.

The conversation headed nowhere was interrupted by a shriek from above them. Rose looked up and felt the blood drain out of her face. She knew that horrible, leathery creature. Those were the creatures that had grabbed the Doctor when she ruined everything trying to save her father.

"EVERYONE INSIDE!" Nine bellowed, pushing them towards the church doors in front of them. They stayed in a tight knot, running as quickly as they could. Nine and her Doctor shouldered the heavy door closed behind them. Not a moment too soon as the creature's body collided with the door with a heavy thud.

"Why would the Master come here?" Rose heard herself asking with a slightly hysterical edge to her voice. "And why are those... things here? Doctor? What's going on?"

The two Tens looked between her and each other, shaking their heads as the struggled to catch their breaths. Nine leaned against the stone wall morosely. "It might just be a coincidence that the Master came to this area. We'll never know since we can't leave this church." She almost heard him growl as his fists tightened against his leather-clad arms. "I knew it was a bad idea for you lot to be here."

Her Doctor stepped forward. "Hold on, are you really blaming us for those... things being here?"

"They never showed up before you did."

Her Doctor gaped at Nine. "You can't really be serious! You said that paradoxes could exist peacefully in this world together. What could we have possible done to provoke this?"

"I don't know! Maybe because you are not a paradox, so you don't belong here?" Nine's voice thundered through the room.

Until Other Rose stepped up next to him, placing her hand on his arm. "Doctor." He gritted his teeth together, fisting his hands underneath his arms. "If those creatures are here... what does that mean for us?"

"It means we can't get back to the TARDIS."

Her Doctor stepped forward. "Now hold on a minute. There must be something we can do."

"The last time I saw those creatures, there wasn't anything I could do." Nine's voice was bristled with anger, but it held a self-contempt and sadness that made Rose cringe. "We ended up here. What do you think'll happen if they get us while we're already here?" No one offered a suggestion. "That's not a risk I'm willin' to take."

Other Ten stepped forward, holding his hands out to the both of them. "Regardless of why those creatures are back, the signal lead us here. Surely the Master must be nearby as well?"

"He could be anywhere... Well... Nearby. Well..." Rose shook her head at the man next to her and smiled despite the situation.

"How're we gonna know anyways? What can we do?"

Nine strode towards her, stopping to rest his hands on the back of the pew between them. "According to Ten over there, you two escaped unlike us. How did you manage?"

She shook her head against the brimming tears. "Dad sacrificed himself. After my Doctor had been eaten, or whatever it is those things do, he saw the car that was supposed to kill him. He ran out in front of it. Time just sort of... righted itself. I don't see how that helps us. There's no Dad and no car on a loop."

Despite her words, they all moved towards the window. Everything outside was startlingly still. Except for the big time beast charging towards the window at them. "Watch out!" her Doctor called out, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from the window. They all dropped to the floor, bracing against the impact. But nothing happened. Rose looked at each of them in turn, but got shakily to her feet. She peeked out the window. The creature rushed towards them, slamming against the window. She toppled to the ground again with the vibrations.

"That was... a bit of a delay," she breathed out shakily when she realized she was lying across the two Tens' laps.

Nine moved away, sitting down on one of the pews and burying his face in his hands. "We can't just sit here forever. We have to figure something out. Can we call the TARDIS in here without opening a window for those things?"

"No. Any disturbance in the current temporal atmosphere would let them in," Other Ten countered. "We almost got the TARDIS in here last time, but that was because it wasn't in this dimension. It's already here; the beasts could follow it in."

Her Doctor sat her up on Other Ten's lap, getting to his feet and digging around in the pockets of his long brown coat.

"So we're stuck here until they get bored? If they get bored?" Other Rose asked.

Ten seemed to find what he was searching for. "Ah ha!" he cried out, tugging on something heavy inside his pocket. It almost looked like one of those fantasy fisher handheld games, with three different hand-hold parts, an antenna poking out of it, and lots of little knobs circling a screen. "We can find him with this."

"Is that where that thing went off to? I'd forgotten. The things you lose in your coat pockets," Other Ten mused, helping Rose to her feet as he got to his own.

He jiggled some different toggle switches, then tweaked one of the wheels. A bleep sounded, followed by a steady "rat-tat-tat-tat" beeping that got louder when he turned a certain way. "Definitely have a lock-down on a Time Lord that isn't already in this room." He grinned back at Other Ten, then turned to look at Nine. He wasn't as overjoyed. His eyes still held a bit of distrust and anger as he watched Ten. "Are you with us, or are you going to sit there until you can get at the TARDIS?"

He stared evenly back. Then he got to his feet, keeping his arms crossed tightly over his chest.

He shrugged, turning back to Rose with a wink. "Let's get out of here." He turned his attention back to the small screen, focusing on it like a child with a new toy at Christmas. He walked towards the back of the church, taking slow and careful steps. He took a few steps to the right, and then back to the left.

Looking at each other, they all followed after him as he rounded a back corner. No one dared to say anything. Rose almost ran into the Doctor when the caught up with him standing in front of a broom closet door in the back. He looked back at her, then the rest of the group, an edgy not-sure-if-I-should-be-happy-or-worried grin. "Ladies and gentlemen... On to find the Master."

He pushed the door open.

Then they all froze.

He took the first few tentative steps into the room.

His boots scuffed on the metal grating.

"Hold on... I've been here before."

"Yeah, so have I." Rose stepped up next to him, her brow furrowed. "But how is this possible? Doctor..?"

"I've been here, too." Other Ten's voice was grim. He looked back at Other Rose and Nine. "Satellite Five. But last I checked, it wasn't on the other side of a church door."


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I had quite a bit of fun writing it. Yes, things are getting more confusing before they get better. For those of you clever enough to figure it out on your own, congratulations. For the rest of you like me that don't make leaps like this without more clues, hang tight: I promise explanations will come your way **_**eventually**_**. As always, reading and reviewing are much appreciated. The faster I get reviews, the faster I write and the sooner you get your update.**

_Previously on Paradox..._

"_Hold on... I've been here before."_

"_Yeah, so have I." Rose stepped up next to him, her brow furrowed. "But how is this possible? Doctor..?"_

"_I've been here, too." Other Ten's voice was grim. He looked back at Other Rose and Nine. "Satellite Five. But last I checked, it wasn't on the other side of a church door."_

"Satellite Five is where you regenerated, right?" Other Rose walked over, wrapping her arms around Other Ten's waist.

"Yeah, but... Which Satellite Five are we on? When?"

Ten listened to the silence. He couldn't hear a sound from anywhere. "No one's here. It's empty. Wouldn't that put us right after the Dalek attack? No one was left alive, except for Jack, and he's rather impossible to kill now."

The others looked around them. They were on floor 500. The ice had melted from the first time they'd been here. This was definitely when he had sent Rose away to protect her and somehow, impossibly, she had come back. She'd nearly burned alive. And then he had terrified her by changing before he got the chance to tell her what was happening. The memory still burned vividly in his mind. He busied himself with his Master detector to keep the thoughts away and avoid looking at Rose.

The door between them and the church banged shut, making them all jump. Nine, the closest to the door, hurried back over to it, digging his heels into the grating as he tried to force it open. "No! My TARDIS is still back there!"

He jerked on it until he was out of breath, leaning against the steel door huffing. They all stared at him sadly.

"How did we get here?" Other Rose asked, still holding on to her Ten.

Ten looked between Other Ten and his Rose. "I have a theory that the Master has somehow created a spatio-temporal hyperlink, much like the clockwork robots who were after Madame du Pompadour. I'd wired this place up to have quite a bit of power. He could've punched a hole from there to here. Dunno what he's planning, but it can't be good."

Nine wheeled on him. "You want me to just leave her here? He's your enemy, not mine."

"The only way we can go is forward," Ten said softly. "Once we take care of the Master, we can go back and get your TARDIS."

He turned back, stepping over the coils he'd left sprawled out from the last time they were here. He could feel Nine's anger radiating towards him, but he ignored it completely. They wouldn't solve anything arguing up here, even if he usually was the first to argue.

"Seems like the Master is a few floors down. Well... Five."

"Think the lifts are still working? Jack was supposed to jam them so no one could get up after they'd set the traps." Other Ten walked towards the shaft, putting his hand against the censor. It chirped at him in a way that sounded like it wasn't going to let him in.

"The Daleks had to get up through the ventilation shafts," Rose volunteered, and he found himself smiling at the worry in her tone. "Are we gonna have to shimmy down them? I don't exactly have the ability to hover."

Other Ten pulled out his sonic screwdriver, sweeping the corners of the doors. The doors slid open and he stuck his head out into the shaft. Ten moved over next to him, doing the same. The lift was fifteen floors down. He stuck his screwdriver out, sonicking the cables. A clunking noise responded. "Jack did a good job jamming the lift. It isn't moving. Ah! Here we go!" He reached out along the side of the shaft, his fingers closing around metal bars for a ladder. He jumped onto the wall, grinning back at the three heads that poked through the shaft doors to look at him. "Not stuck after all. We can climb down five stories, I should think. Allons-y!"

He moved farther down the ladder to give them room. Other Ten stayed at the top, helping the two Roses across and down. Once they were out of his way, he called back to Nine and hopped onto the ladder. The five of them made slow progress down the ladder, the Doctors keeping an eye on the Roses.

"It's a lot easier goin' without embodiment of the plague followin' us on the ladder, yeah?" his Rose teased.

He looked up, catching her eyes over the curve of her bum and her shoulder, and grinned back at her. "We also don't have to argue with Cassandra now, do we?" They both burst out laughing, ignoring the slight smile of Other Ten and the confused looks of Other Rose and Nine. But slowly, the memories of what Cassandra had done in each of their bodies bubbled to the surface. Their laughter trailed off awkwardly. He hurried down the shaft quicker.

They reached the floor they needed not long after that. He hooked his arm through the rung, extending his sonic to open the lift doors. They slid open with little noise, and he hopped over, hanging onto the side as he helped Rose over.

Holding her up as she caught her breath, he looked around them. They were on level 495. Everything was still around them. The sounds of footsteps behind them as the others hopped down from the shaft echoed around the wide, empty room. But fear tingled in the back of his mind. This was where the Ann-Droid had been. This was where he had thought he had lost Rose, really lost her, for the first time.

"Doctor? Where do we go from here?" Other Rose's voice behind him stirred him from his thoughts. He pulled out his Time Lord detector once more. Fiddling with buttons and knobs, he looked from the screen to the space around them.

"He should be... right around the corner." He took a step forward towards the hallway.

And froze in his tracks at the creature coming around to greet him.

"Identify yourself."

All the blood drained out of his face. "No."

"It is the Doctor." The lone Dalek's voice was as full of hatred and fear as it ever was. "Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!"

"NO!" He and Other Ten leapt in front of the Roses, shielding them with their own bodies. A high-pitched squeal sounded. Every cell in his body felt on fire as he was struck with the Dalek's ray.

"DOCTOR!" He heard the echo of Roses' voice in his ears as he collapsed to the ground, everything going white.

He sat up, gasping for air.

Shuddering gasps sounded next to him.

"Hold on... What?" He jumped to his feet, patting himself down and looking around him.

They were back on floor 500.

Nine was still leaning against the door that had just slammed closed.

The two Roses and his other self were all pale, looking between one another. "What?"

"How did we... end up back where we started?" Other Ten ran a shaky hand through his hair, looking around him.

"Something's not right here." Nine's grim voice made them turn around. "The Master has altered more than the spatio-temporal relativity of Satellite Five and the church."


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Blaaaargggghhh... This chapter was so hard to write. You know how difficult it is to get Ten angry with himself? *sigh* Well here it is, finally, for you.**

**As always, I own nothing except a spiffy glow-in-the-dark poster, a TARDIS cookie jar, a mini!Ten and mini!Rose, a pair of gas masks, and a sonic screwdriver. Reviews are much appreciated and help me write faster. Enjoy this latest installment.**

**Also, I'm looking for a reliable beta. If you like my stories and think you are up for the job, I'd greatly appreciate it. You'd see my stuff before it even went up on here. I really only need someone to check for basic errors (because those are always the ones I miss) and to bounce ideas off of.**

_Previously..._

"_Something's not right here." Nine's grim voice made them turn around. "The Master has altered more than the spatio-temporal relativity of Satellite Five and the church."_

"Just sit still and feel it for a moment," Nine continued. "That little niggling doubt at the back of your mind. That feeling that something isn't completely right."

The Doctor did as he was told, falling still for a rare moment. Nine was right. There was something in the back of his brain that had been screaming at him for a while now. He hadn't noticed it between the Time creatures and finding Satellite Five behind a church door, but it was definitely there. "What is that?" He heard his other self mumble.

"I can feel it, too," Other Rose said, her brow furrowed. "How can I feel it, too?"

He blocked out their voices, focusing on the niggling problem in the back of his head. He could almost make out what was off about it... He felt along the timelines, twisting and turning through his head and... There! "The timelines are on a loop!" he sputtered in surprise.

"Wha?" Rose asked, grabbing his arm.

"How could the Master possibly do that?" Nine asked in a soft but angry tone.

"Never mind that, if he's put the timelines on a loop, how do we know we can find him with that little thing?" Other Ten jumped in, pointing to the device in his hands.

"It's not like we've got another choice!" he defended, half hiding his Master Detector behind his body.

"Even if he is on that floor, how do you suggest we get past the Dalek?" Nine asked.

He stopped for a moment, his mouth suspended in giving an answer he didn't have.

"The gun Jack had," Rose suggested. He turned to look at her. "Jack was on that floor. He had a gun that could destroy the Daleks. He did it before. Maybe if we can get to that gun... I dunno, just maybe we could get rid of the Dalek so we can worry about this Master fella."

"Jack collapsed on the other side of the Dalek from the lift shaft," his other self dismissed. "Wait!" Without another word, he dashed over to the far door. A clanging sounded, and he tossed a grate out of his way. "Ha!" His tangled mass of brown hair popped up over the control panel he'd moved behind. "There's a heating duct here. It lets out right above where Jack fell. You'd drop down right on the other side of the Dalek."

The three of them moved to stand next to him. Sure enough, he'd found a small vent that gradually sloped downwards. "Bit small," the Doctor said.

His other self looked up at him from his crouching position. "That's why Rose will have to go down."

His hand tightened instinctively on hers. "No."

"Doctor..."

His other self stood up to face him, refusing to be intimidated by his tone. "You need to start trusting her. Hasn't Rose proven enough that she can do things like this?"

"I'm not sending her down there alone to face the Dalek. I'm not going to ask her to kill another creature!"

Other Rose stepped forward next to Other Ten. "I'll do it. It's fine."

Other Ten spared her a small glance. "You know you can't go on your own. What if the Master is right there? You need someone to help. You both need to go."

"Tough, because I'm not. Letting. Her. Go!" he heard himself thunder, glaring at his other self.

"Doctor!" A sharp tug on his hand made him face his Rose. "I can handle this, yeah? This Dalek killed Jack. It's not like the Dalek we faced in Utah. It doesn't deserve to be spared." Her face hardened as he opened his mouth to argue. "Other Ten is right. You need to trust me! How many times are you gonna keep trying to send me away to protect me until you realize I can take care of myself?" She jerked her hand out of his.

He looked around at the three of them, feeling horribly outnumbered and angry at the whole situation. He rounded on his other self, standing nearly nose to nose with him. "If anything happens to her, ANYTHING, I will personally make you pay for it!"

"Doctor, it's my decision!" Rose yelled back at him, folding her arms over her chest.

He opened his mouth a couple times, angry that the right words weren't coming out. Other Ten turned to his Rose, holding out his sonic screwdriver to her. "If Jack got taken out, it's likely his gun died. You'll need to use this to recharge it. Be careful." He pressed a kiss to her forehead before moving back. He refused to meet the Doctor's glare.

He felt Rose's eyes on him and turned to meet her. He couldn't stop his glare from slipping away at the softer look on her face. "Doctor, it'll be alright. I've done worse before. And now there's two of me to handle this. I'll see you at the bottom, yeah?"

He couldn't respond to her around the angry lump in his throat, so he just nodded. He watched the other Rose climb into the duct first, sliding out of sight, before his Rose followed.

"Right then!" His other self cried, running around him back towards the lift doors that he opened with a whir of the screwdriver. "We'd better hurry down so that we can distract the Dalek from the other side for the girls. You coming, Nine?"

He didn't bother waiting for a response as he hoped onto the ladder and began the climb down. Nine looked over at him, shrugged his shoulders, and followed after Other Ten. He suppressed a growl, took one last look at the now empty-looking duct, then followed the other two into the shaft.

Adrenaline and worry pushed them down the shaft even faster than last time. None of them paused as they hopped from the ladder back onto Floor 495. They ran forward together, skidding to a stop as the Dalek surged forward to meet them.

"Identify yourself."

"I'm the Doctor," his other self said, standing up tall.

"And you're... exterminated," Nine added, jerking his head to Other Rose.

She hefted the gun up higher in her arms, flipping the switch. The Dalek exploded with a satisfying crunch. "YES!" she cried, dropping the gun to the floor with a load bang.

The Doctor skirted around the still smoking shell of the Dalek and ran straight to his Rose, scooping her up in his arms and holding her tightly against him.

His hearts warmed as her laughing washed over him, but he still aimed a glare at his counterpart over her shoulder. "See, Doctor? I told ya I'd be fine!"

He set her back down, taking her hand in one of his and pulling her along with him down the hall, fishing the Master detector out of his pocket. "C'mon," he muttered. _Before he volunteers you for another mission that might get you killed_, he added silently, knowing but not caring that the two other Doctors could hear him.

The bleeping on the screen led them to a wide, square room that, strangely for Satellite Five, didn't have any doors in it. They pressed into the space, looking around in confusion. "I don't understand." He dropped Rose's hand in order to aim a smack at his device. "He should be right here."

"Doctor!" He looked up to see a blue glow in the corner of the room that hadn't been there a second ago. "What is it?"

He took a tentative step towards it. "I don't—"

The rest of his sentence was cut off as the breath whooshed out of him. He felt like he'd taken a hell of a right cut to his stomach. He tried to stumble back, but some invisible force wound its way around his hips and jerked him forward. "Rose!" he yelled, twisting against it to face her again, his hand outstretched. She was getting dragged the same way he was. But the others were getting dragged in the opposite direction.

"Rose!"

"Doctor! Doctor, what's happening?" The hysterical note in her voice made his hearts sink, and he struggled against the invisible hold more. His hand closed around hers again.

"It's alright, we'll... Doctors! Rose!" Together, his Rose and he dug their heels in, struggling to try to reach the others. The other three, getting sucked into the wall opposite them, were fighting just as hard.

"We'll find you!" his other self promised, clawing at the wall to no affect as his eyes locked onto Rose's face. "Whatever the hell is going on, we won't let the Master win! We'll find yo—"

His voice cut off as the Doctor and Rose were finally dragged through the wall. Everything went dark and silent around them.

"Hold on... We're... We're falling!" he shouted as the realization of the feeling of vertigo hit him. Somehow, there was no air to rush past them, but they were still breathing. He pulled Rose to him, wrapping himself around her as he could feel the ground getting closer to them. His back hit the loose rocks beneath him, knocking the breath out of him again.

"Doctor!" Rose gasped, scrambling off him again. "Are you alright."

He rolled over, sucking air in. "Fine, fine. You? Are you alright?"

"Of course I am, you silly old Time Lord, you took the fall for me." She threw her arms around him, hugging him tight despite the fact he hadn't caught his breath again.

He didn't care as he clung to her. She was still alive, and they were still together. Whatever had happened—and the timelines had shifted again—they were still together.

"Where are we?" she asked as she pulled back, looking at the huge cavern around them, filled with a dim glow.

His eyes followed the same path as hers, scanning over the snapped cables, huge archways, and engraved, thirty meter gaping hole next to them. "But that's impossible." His brow furrowed.

"Doctor? Where are we?" she asked him again, hand closing around his.

"Well... Dunno how we got here, but we... are back beneath the sanctuary base on an impossible planet. We are ten miles beneath the surface of an unnamed planet orbiting a black hole."

Rose's wide, terrified eyes met his own.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: TT_TT**

"We'll find you!" the Doctor shouted after his other self, clawing at the wall to no affect as his eyes locked onto the new Rose's face. "Whatever the hell is going on, we won't let the Master win! We'll find yo—" His words were cut off as he felt a pain in his stomach like he'd been punched, hard. His hands froze from clawing at the wall that was sucking them in as a white flash of light hit his eyes. He pinched them tight against the onslaught, letting the force that he was helpless against tug him along.

Finally the pulling stopped and he could breathe again. He cracked his eye open. And nearly fell to the ground at where he, Rose, and Nine were standing.

"No! No, no, nonononononono!"

"Doctor?" Rose asked softly, stepping closer to him. 

"No! We cannot be here! I know what happens here, and it is never good! We have to find a way out." He tugged frantically on his hair as he ran back and forth, looking for the way they'd come in.

"Pull yourself together, Doctor," Nine ordered, looking around at the deserted landscape, his rubber boots sinking into the soft sand. "Where are we?"

"Dålig Ulv Stranden."

"Dalek?" both Rose and Nine said, startled, at the same time.

The Doctor shook his head. "Dålig. It's Norwegian for bad. We're standing on Bad Wolf Bay."

Nine's eyebrow quirked. Rose just looked between the two of them. "Is that somethin' important?"

"Those words were following us, before we ended up here. They just sort've... stopped once we came to this universe." Nine's tone was low and dark.

"How can words follow us?" Rose's tone said she didn't buy it for a second.

"Rose." The Doctor touched her arm lightly. "Remember what I told you about my regeneration? How my Rose came back to save me from the Daleks and then I had to save her from the power of the time vortex?"

"Yeah..."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Well, the vortex changed her. She became Bad Wolf. She scattered those words throughout time and space to give her clues to what she needed to do."

Nine nodded, immediately understanding what was going on. Rose looked a little confused. "Well then, if Bad Wolf is a clue to save you... Why are you scared of this beach?"

He felt like sinking into the sand. He felt like running until he could never see the bay again. He felt all the emotions of leaving behind his Rose with that... other him coursing through him all over again. "This is where I lost her. Twice. I never got to tell her how I felt on this beach. I... I couldn't. This beach... is the location of the biggest heartbreaks I've had to face in this body. I swore the last time I would never come back here again. The Master... Somehow he must have found out and sent us here. I don't know why, but it can't be good. We need to leave."

He looked over from Rose to Nine, but he wasn't listening. He was turned to look behind him, the twitching in his ears giving away that he was listening hard to something. "Doctor?" Nine still didn't respond.

He reached a hand out to touch him on the shoulder. Just before he reached him, Nine murmured, "No. Can't be." He turned more fully backwards, taking steps towards the ridge on the other side of the bay. His steps turned into strides, which turned into running.

"Doctor! Doctor, come back!" Rose went running after him, running faster than he thought she would on the shifting sands of the beach.

"Rose! Come back here! We shouldn't get split up!" He tried to run after her, but his feet had gotten stuck in the sand. He struggled to pull his leg out. By the time he'd gotten one foot moved, Nine had disappeared over the ridge and Rose was halfway there. "Rose!" Either she couldn't hear him or she was too focused on Nine because she didn't even look back as she kept running.

Fear and desperation bubbled in him as he struggled against the sand. No matter how many times he called her name, Rose didn't come back. He pulled on his feet, trying to move as quickly as Nine and Rose had. He'd barely taken three steps before Rose, too disappeared over the ridge. "Rose, no!"

He was interrupted at the sound behind him. A transparent projection of himself was standing on the far end of the beach. He could see Rose through it, just barely. Even without seeing her closely, he knew she was struggling not to cry.

He could have sworn his hearts stopped dead from their galloping pace of before. "Rose..."

He pulled on his feet, turning to her even as the projection solidified. He could just see her face over his shoulder. The wind whipped around him as he struggled towards her. He didn't need to hear her to know what was being said.

_Can't you come through properly?_

_The whole thing would fracture. Two universes would collapse._

_So?_

"No, no, no!" A lump was rising in his throat. He could feel the tears start to brim in his eyes, the same tears he'd fought back in his TARDIS.

_There's five of us now. Mom, Dad, Mickey... and the baby._

He had been so terrified by that sentence. He should have been happy that she had gotten on with her life. But the thought of her with another man...

_No. It's Mum. Three months gone. More Tylers on the way._

_And what about you?_

_Yeah, I'm back working in the shop._

_Yeah? Good for you._

_Shut up, no I'm not. The Torchwood on this planet's open for business. I think I know a thing or two about aliens._

_Rose Tyler. Defender of the Earth._

He was just a couple dozen meters away. If he called out her name, she might hear him. But he couldn't get any sound past the lump in his throat. Each step was harder to take. The sand dragged at him more and more. But he wouldn't give in to his weariness. He had to reach her. He had to.

_Am I ever going to see you again?_

_You can't._

Those words had broken his hearts more than anything that had happened already. Each tear that coursed down her cheek seared him through to the soul.

_What are you going to do?_

_Oh, I've got the TARDIS. Same old life. Last of the Time Lords._

_On your own?_

Just a few more meters and he could wrap her in his arms and never let her go.

"I..." she was cut off by a sob. "I love you."

"Quite right to." He could hear them now. He wanted to throttle himself for wasting precious time with those stupid words. "And, I suppose, if it's my last chance to say it... Rose Tyler—"

His image cut off, leaving her standing alone on the beach, choked by sobs. She wrapped her arms around herself, barely able to keep standing.

"Rose!" he called out, but she wouldn't look up. "Rose!" He fought harder against the sand. It was starting to feel like cement around his feet. If he could just reach her, then everything would be...

Finally she straightened up, pushing at the tears on her cheeks. Her eyes swept over the beach, not seeing him. She turned and walked back to her parents, staying on top of the sand that was dragging him down.

"Rose! Rose, no! Please, Rose, ple—" He was cut off by another lump in his throat. He clawed at the ground, trying to pull himself out of the sand and towards her before she could drive away. As she got into the car, he felt the lump in his throat dissolve into sobs that shredded his chest, twisted his hearts, and dragged him deeper into the sand.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: This chapter came out quick! I'm giving you a little bit of information. Anyone figured anything out yet?**

**I hope you continue to enjoy and, as always, reviews are appreciated. Thanks to all of you who are adding this to your watches, who are favoriting it, and who are leaving reviews on your way out. You've made this so much fun to write. It's getting more writing time than my original fiction is right now! Anyways, I hope you continue to enjoy, and please leave a tip (review) for the writer on your way out.**

"_We are ten miles beneath the surface of an unnamed planet orbiting a black hole."_

_Rose's wide, terrified eyes met his own._

"We're trapped beneath the sanctuary base? But... the TARDIS was down here last time, yeah? Think she might still be here?"

He staggered slowly to his feet, holding out a hand to her. "Even if it were, it wasn't here."

"But you caught up to the rocket. You... you found the TARDIS again and saved the crew."

"She was down there." He turned and looked down into the cavernous drop off next to him. The trap door had opened, and a bone-chilling cold was wafting up towards them.

"What's down there, Doctor?"

"Last time, that was where that creature was."

"He said... I was gonna die in battle."

He turned, gripping her arms. "I told you not to listen to him." He sighed at the scared look on her face. He relaxed his hold, stroking her arms absently with his thumb. "We got rid of the beast, you and me. I don't think he's down there anymore."

"But Doctor, we only got rid of him by letting him fall into the black hole. Are we safe here?"

"I don't know about safe, but I don't even think the black hole is up there."

"What do you mean?"

He stepped back, scratching at his head. "Remember when I said the timelines are on a loop?"

"Yeah?"

"I still haven't quite worked out what he's done, but I know the Master is responsible. If he's manipulated the time lines, I think he has somehow figured out how to get into our heads. He's sending us to places we never wanted to be."

She stood stock still, a confused but stunned look on her face.

"The church. That was the first place I really thought... That was where everything went wrong. I treated you so awfully, Rose. I failed you. For the other Rose and Nine, that was a pivotal moment for them. He never got to save her from that. The guilt is still probably tearing him apart. And Satellite Five. I lost you. I'd sent you away to live out your life. I was facing the Daleks and another possible mass genocide. I was going to die, and the only comfort I had was that you were back home, in the past, safe. And then you came back, and changed everything. And I changed. I never even warned you. I scared you to death, and I—"

He cut off, turning his head away angrily. Rose stepped closer to him, taking his hand on hers. His eyes slowly went to hers. "Doctor, it's alright. We worked past it."

"And then here," he continued. "We were both upset about being stuck here, for good. Then everything started going really really wrong. I came down here, then farther down. You went up in the rocket."

"Yeah, I remember that part. It was just a couple days ago—well, as far as I can tell inside the TARDIS."

"I don't know what game the Master is playing at, but it's not good. If he's dragging us to every place we were unhappy in, it's only going to get a lot worse before we find him."

"So what, these places are just... projections, yeah? The Master somehow figured all these things out from our heads, and has us running through a maze until we find him? Then what happened to the others?"

He shrugged. "We've been separated. They've got their own demons to face, I'm afraid."

"Alright, well... where do we go from here?"

He didn't hear her. His eyes had become focused on the deep pit next to them.

"Doctor?" she stepped closer to him, lightly touching his arm.

His eyes immediately snapped to hers, a forced grin on his face. "Right, sorry, hello!"

She wasn't fooled. "Doctor, what is it?"

He shook himself a little, his eyes drifting back to the pit. "I keep trying to tell myself this place isn't real..." He said it in a near whisper. "But it's still there, right in the back of my mind."

"Doctor, what is it?" she repeated.

He took a few steps closer to the edge without even realizing it. "It's that feeling again. The Master has manipulated everything, but I know it's not real now. So how is that feeling still there? Right at the back of your head. That impulse. That strange little impulse. That mad little voice says 'Go on! Go on. Go on. Go over, go on.'"

"Doctor?" Her voice sounded scared now, but he couldn't stop himself.

"There it is again. That itch. 'Go down, go down, go down, go down, go down.' The urge to jump..." He leaned over the edge, eyes trying vainly to penetrate the darkness. "No, that's not it. That's too kind. It's not the urge to jump. It's deeper than that. It's the urge to fall!"

"Doctor!" Her shouted words echoed around the cavern as her hand closed around his wrist, dragging him back. He felt like he was just waking up from a daze and blinked his eyes, focusing on her terrified face.

"I'm sorry, Rose. I'm so sorry. But... Didn't you feel that pull?"

"No, Doctor, I didn't. Can't say I've ever had the urge to just fall down an open pit that is who knows how deep."

He felt disappointed that she didn't feel the call too, but pushed it away. "You're right, I'm sorry. What were you saying?"

Her eyes were still on him, concerned. "I asked how we're gonna get outta here."

He looked around. There was no Ida. No stretch of cables. No snapped or frayed cables, either. "We could always try the lift. It looks like it's still intact."

Her eyes finally moved from his to the lift. "Well, it's worth a shot," she muttered under her breath, taking the first few steps towards the lift. The Doctor stayed closely behind her.

Until he heard something from the pit.

He stopped, turning back just a bit to look at the pit over his shoulder.

"Theta..."

He turned fully towards it, taking a few steps closer to the pit. "But... that's impossible," he muttered. He stuck his finger in his ear, jiggling it back and forth. The fall must have damaged his hearing. Or his head.

"Theta..."

There it was again. That impossible voice from centuries back. He hadn't heard that name in a long, long time.

He leaned over, looking down into the pit. He couldn't be the new beast in the pit, could he?

"Doctor!" he heard Rose calling after him.

Before he could turn around, the ground beneath him started shaking like it had when the seal opened. "Rose!" He twisted, keeping his eyes on hers. "Rose, be careful! The ground is un—" His sentence was lost as the ground beneath him gave way, sending him tumbling down into the darkness. "DOCTOR!" Rose's shriek followed him down for miles, bouncing off the slick walls around him.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: This is a short chapter (but really, most of my chapters have been short). I'm not good at writing wars. On another note, Nine was a lot easier to break than I thought he would be.  
><strong> 

**Anyways, hope you enjoy. This chapter is dedicated to the amazing Shara Raizel for being incredible and going through and leaving a review for each and every chapter. She really fueled me forward on writing this chapter. It was a tough one to write, and it would have taken much longer without her.**

**Please let me know what you think so far and leave a review on the way out. Just a few more chapters to go.**

"This is where I lost her. Twice. I never got to tell her how I felt on this beach. I... I couldn't. This beach... is the location of the biggest heartbreaks I've had to face in this body. I swore the last time I would never..."

He listened to Ten's story. He hadn't gone through it, but he could just imagine what it would be to lose Rose like that. He may not be willing to be all that honest about his feelings, but he knew he wouldn't survive long without Rose.

But then something distracted him. He turned to look over his shoulder, ears twitching as he strained to hear it again. It sounded like... screams. Screams and explosions and high-pitched squeals. He knew those squeals.

"No. Can't be." He turned more fully backwards, taking steps towards the ridge on the other side of the bay. His steps turned into strides, which turned into running.

"Doctor! Doctor, come back!" he heard Rose calling after him, but he couldn't stop. With everything in him, he needed to make sure those sounds were _not _what he thought they were.

"Rose! Come back here! We shouldn't get split up!" He heard Ten's voice coming from farther behind him, fainter as he ran.

The farther towards the far ridge he ran, the louder the screams and squeals became. The thicker the smell of blood and ash. The darker the skies.

He crested the ridge, digging the heels of his boots in so that he skidded to a stop. His eyes shot around him, hoping beyond hope that what he was seeing wasn't real. What he was seeing couldn't be real. He knew it. But why couldn't he believe it?

Above him loomed the Mountains of Perdition, their tops alight with a wild green flame. The skies were filled with metal ships and dark clouds of black smoke. The golden grass around him was matted down, coated in pools of red blood. He wheeled around to where he'd come from. The ridge had disappeared, replaced by the battlefields of Gallifrey. Complete with a set of Time Lord warriors rushing towards him.

"Doctor!"

He jerked away from them, turning to scan for any escape. He could not be here. Whatever the Master was doing, he could not have broken the Time Lock.

"Doctor!" His arm was seized and he was wheeled around. "I thought you were in the other province. What are you..." The young captain before him clamped his mouth shut, shaking his head. "Never mind. I'm glad you're here. The Cruciform has fallen and the Master seems to have vanished. The Daleks are threatening the Hall. Someone needs to lead the troops into the next battle. You are the only one with the experience to lead these men."

"No, but I—" He was cut off as one of the soldiers with the captain came up behind him, grabbing the collar of his jacket and stripping the comforting leather from him. He spun, trying to take hold of his jacket again even as it disappeared into the mass of soldiers. Hands pushed and prodded at him as they struggled him into military robes of the Prydonian Chapter—robes he'd nearly burned in the last time.

"I order you to stop!" he called out in desperation, thrashing against their grips.

"Doctor." His head jerked up to come to eye level with the captain. "Someone must lead these soldiers in battle." His eyes slid from the Time Lord in front of him to the Time Lords surrounding him.

The captain's next words were cut off by a cacophony of shrill extermination rays and screams of pain, explosions and metal cracking. His eyes pinched closed as his hearts hammered in his chest.

"Doctor, if you do not lead them, all of these Time Lords will die."

He finally jerked himself from the holds of the soldiers behind him, stumbling to the captain and gripping his arms hard. "Don't you understand? None of this was supposed to happen. They are too young to fight like this. We're all too young! I am too young to die here!" His voice cracked. The captain looked at him, and he could finally see behind the controlled façade the fear that the Doctor himself felt to his core.

He stumbled back, looking around him. Fear coursed through all of them. Time Lord consciousnesses pushed at his own from all sides, screaming out in fear, in pain, crying for help, crying for relief. He pushed his hands to his temples. After the silence he'd been living with for the past few years, it was almost too overwhelming.

He threw back his head and let out a bellow aimed toward the sky. "What am I supposed to do?" he asked the empty air above him. He pounded on his chest. "I ended this carnage once, at the cost of all their lives. Do you expect me to do that again?"

He was oblivious to the confused, stunned looks around him, but not to the increase of fear pressing in on his mind. He collapsed to his knees, wrapping his hands around his head. "What am I supposed to do?" He could feel the wet blood beneath him leaking up into his dark jeans. He dropped his hands to the ground, pulling fistfuls of the grass and blood-soaked dirt up, flinging them around him. "What am I supposed to do?"

Hands seized him under his armpits and dragged him to his feet. The captain stood before him, giving him one fear-drenched but disgusted look, before he stretched out his fist, catching the Doctor's chin in a hard right hook. If he wasn't being held up, he would have collapsed to the ground again. "Pull yourself together, Doctor!" the captain shouted in his face. "We are going in to that battle, you will lead us, and just maybe some of us won't die!"

The Doctor looked up, latching eyes with him. He didn't feel the fear, the terror, any more. It still pressed in on his mind from all times, but everything was drained out of him. He felt empty, hollow, and unbelievably weary. Just like he had when he watched his planet burn for the very last time before taking off, following the signal of an odd disturbance to the little planet of Earth.

He straightened up, tugging on his robes and taking a few steps forward. He knew his eyes had to be reflecting the hollowness he felt inside him.

"Onward we march," he muttered under his breath as he took the first few steps through the mud that pulled at his boots. The soldiers behind him gripped tighter to their weapons as they fell into step behind him.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: Poor Doctor. TT_TT Why do I like to torment you so much?**

**Only four more chapters to go, folks!**

**(Though it's an alternate set of events, this chapter is a subversion of the Children In Need special from 2005. If you haven't seen it, go check it out on YouTube. It bridges the gap between series 1 and 2.)**

He groaned, afraid to open his eyes. He'd survived the last fall down the pit somehow. But he had been in a padded suit, and had been lowered several meters first. He didn't want to know what kind of damage had been done to him this time.

Without opening his eyes, he mentally explored his body. No broken bones. No bruised muscles. Not even any cuts or scratches. Slowly he opened his eyes, pushing himself up to a sitting position. He was fine, but a cavernous blackness stretched above him. How was he going to get back to Rose?

He scanned the area around him, struggling in the dark. There was no fire. There was no beast. Just him, and a big empty cave.

He fumbled towards the wall, tripping over rocks in the darkness. His hand touched damp rock, prickling and catching at his skin. He continued to feel along the wall, wondering if there was a way out or back up. "Come on, come on," he grumbled to himself.

His hand brushed against wood.

He stood up straight, focusing his eyes in the darkness. Slowly, a glow filled the area around him. A blue glow.

His beautiful TARDIS stood in front of him, letting off a merry glow from the windows and light on top.

"Ah ha ha! Yes!" He ripped the door open, bounding inside and up to the console. He knew he was grinning like a loon, but he didn't care. He ran his hands lovingly over the buttons and levers, whispering loving words to his beautiful machine.

A small noise behind him made him turn around. Rose was standing next to a coral strut near the ramp. Well, when he said standing, it was more like cowering. Her body was half behind the support beam, her hands clutching to it while her eyes looked at him in fear. Fear bordering on absolute terror. Terror like the kind you felt when something horrible had happened, or some unnamed beast was in your sights and about to destroy you.

He turned to look behind him, but saw no one in the control room except he and Rose. He ran a hand through his hair, but stopped at the sight of his arm.

He was wearing his previous regeneration's leather coat. The jumper, dark jeans, and boots, too. How long had he been out?

"Rose?" He took a step forward, but she shrunk farther behind the strut. He stopped, looking at her in worry. "Rose? Rose, it's me."

"Who are you?"

He felt his jaw drop just a little bit. "I'm the Doctor." Was she alright?

"No... Where is he? Where is the Doctor? What have you done to him?"

His hearts began thudding in his chest. There was no way the Master could have reset them back to here... right? His mouth started working before he had even thought of it. "You saw me. I... I changed. Right in front of you."

"I saw him sort of... explode... and then... you replaced him like a... a teleport or a... transmat... or a body-swap or somethin'."

His hearts felt like they dropped out of his chest. The Master was hypnotic, but he couldn't take away the memories of someone as strong as Rose. And if the Master had bothered to change him back into the clothing of his previous regeneration, he would have done a lot worse to him while unconscious.

Wait, maybe this was another projection. More personal, rather than the large-scale, maze-like projections he suspected they had been running through.

Maybe this Rose was a projection. Maybe she wasn't really here, but sent to distract him while his Rose was elsewhere and safe and looking for a way to get to him.

She slowly inched forward, looking him furtively up and down. She raised her arm and pushed him, hard, right in the center of his chest. He rocked back on his heel before straightening again, never taking his eyes from her. Not a projection, then.

"You're not foolin' me. I've seen all sorts of things. Nanogenes. Gelf. Slitheen."

The Master was manipulating the timelines. That was the first thing he'd noticed. Had he someone opened a rift in time and dumped him back to where he first regenerated?

But if that were true, why wasn't he wearing his suit? The confusing options made his eyebrows jerk up a bit.

"Oh my god, are you Slitheen?"

"I am not a Slitheen." Whatever was going on, he still couldn't bear the hurt, fear and confusion that were shining from Rose's eyes.

Even so, she still drew her shoulders back, squaring herself against him. Pride in his Rose fluttered up in him. "Send him back. I'm warnin' you, send the Doctor back RIGHT NOW!"

He buries his hands in his pockets to keep from pulling her into him like he so desperately wants to, because he knows a sudden move like that would only scare her more. "Rose, it's me! Honestly, it's me!"

She shook her head at him, tears in her eyes. Why didn't he tell her about this when he had the chance? "You can't be..."

His every emotion from that first time in this place, so very long ago, washes over him. High adrenaline from seeing Rose burning, manic desperation to get her to accept this new him, sadness that he didn't tell her about this before and save her from it. Why, why, why? Why did he have to be such an idiot?

"Then how could I remember this?" The story pops into his head, the only thing that got her to trust him the last time. "The very first word I ever said to you, trapped in that cellar, surrounded by shop window dummies... Ooh, such a long time ago." He stepped back up closer to her, taking her hand in his own. "I took your hand. I said one word. Just one word. I said, 'Run!'"

The tears were shining brightly in her eyes. She shook her head, pinching her eyes closed and stumbling back a few steps. "No." She opened her eyes, pushing angrily at a tear that was tracking down her cheek. "My Doctor would not just abandon me. My—_The _Doctor is hundreds of years old. You can't be him. You just..." her eyes swept over him quickly, "...can't." She faltered on the last word, covering her mouth.

He stepped back up to her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Rose..."

She jerked away from his touch like he had burned her. "I wanna go home. Take me home. Now."

He felt like a knife was lodging in his chest somewhere between his two hearts. "Rose—"

"Stop sayin' that!" She threw her hands up, covering her ears. She kept her eyes trained anywhere but him. "Just take me home. Mum and Mickey... But it doesn't matter. Just take me home."

He stayed where he was for a minute, eying her sadly. It felt like all the air had been knocked out of him. Rose was doing the one thing he always feared she would; she was asking to leave him.

When she stayed near the ramp, looking all around the control room but near where he was standing, he forced himself over towards the controls and started pushing buttons. He didn't even have to pay attention to what he was doing as he punched in the familiar coordinates, his eyes never leaving her.

The room filled with the familiar _vworp vworp_. He let them hurtle through the vortex while he balanced on his heels, his arms crossed in front of his chest and his hands tucked under his arms to keep himself from running to her, folding her in his arms, and begging her to stay.

They all left him eventually. It wasn't fair of him to hope for forever.

But he had. There was nothing he could do about it now. His hands clutched at his sides, and he knew his knuckles were white. He dug his nails into his palm. Anything to keep from crying as his hearts broke.

They touched ground, and the sound faded from the TARDIS. She finally looked at him from underneath a curtain of her hair. "Rose," he tried again, his voice breaking on the single syllable.

She didn't respond as she turned and ran from the TARDIS without another look back. The doors slammed behind her, echoing around the emptiness.

He collapsed into the jump seat, hands immediately clawing at the side of his face. "Rose, Rose, Rose." He whimpered her name over and over as the tears began. She'd run out on him. He'd screwed up by not telling her about regeneration, and now he had lost her forever. She wouldn't be coming back. He'd seen that sort of anger, that sort of terror on her face before, but it had never been aimed at him. It had been aimed at Adam, and the Daleks who had taken her from Satellite Five, and the Reapers. Creatures she had never even thought about again. Creatures she had run from and abandoned to her nightmares.

And she had looked at him that way.

He slid off the jump seat to the floor, not bothering to hide his anguish any longer. The one thing that had made his life worthwhile since the Time War was gone forever.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: Once I actually sat down and wrote this chapter, it came out fast! Hope you all enjoy. Not many chapters left after this. I'm trying to get it finished before I move to Washington.**

"_We need to leave."_

_Nine wasn't listening. His back was turned, looking towards the far ridge. "Doctor?"_

"_No. Can't be." He turned more fully backwards, taking steps towards the ridge. His steps turned into strides, which turned into running._

_Without thinking about it, she was bolting after him. "Doctor! Doctor, come back!"_

She stumbled a bit on the loose sand as she ran after him, hoping Ten was right behind her. If he was right and only bad things happened on this beach, they needed to stay together.

She always had trouble keeping up with his longer strides, and now was no different without his hand closed around hers. He disappeared over the ridge before she was halfway there, kicking up a cloud of dust behind him. She pushed on, unwilling to lose him, coughing through the sand.

The closer she got to the ridge, the more dust she had to fight her way through. The air around her grew dark, blocking out the sun more and more until she was coughing in complete darkness.

She slowed, feeling solid ground beneath her feet. The air was a different kind of damp and cold than it had been a moment before. There was no breeze ruffling her hair. "Doctor?" she called out, taking a tentative step forward. It echoed oddly around her.

Her eyes started adjusting to the darkness. The place looked oddly familiar.

Her hand skitted along the wall she knew was next to her, flipping the light switch. A couple fluorescent lights flickered on, adding a sickly glow to the room filled with boxes, packing crates, and shop window dummies.

"You've gotta be kiddin' me."

The door behind her slammed closed. Her heart pounding in her ears, she looked back at it and then at the dummies around her. "Doctor?" she called out again, stepping deeper into the room.

She was about halfway across the room when the dummies started towards her, just like the last time she had stepped into Heinrick's.

"You're not foolin' me!" she called out, hoping her voice sounded braver than she felt. "I know you. You're autons, bein' controlled by the Nestene Consciousness. The Shadow Proclamation forbids you to be here."

She wasn't even sure they could hear her. They just kept advancing forward. For every step they took forward, she took one back, until she bumped against the wall. The auton in front of her raised his hand, pointing it at her as the fingers dropped down, revealing a gun-like barrel. She pinched her eyes closed, bracing for impact.

A hand closed around hers. Despite the situation, a grin broke her face. "Doctor, she breathed, opening her eyes and turning towards him.

But it wasn't the Doctor standing next to her.

It was Mickey.

"Hey, sweetheart. What you doin' down here?"

She looked around them, but all of the shop window dummies had vanished. They were the only ones standing alone in the basement room of Heinrick's.

"Mickey? What are _you _doin'?"

His usual, easy grin was on his face. He shrugged noncommittally. "Lookin' for you. Everythin' alright?"

"Well, no, I..." She looked around her, searching for any clue on what the hell was going on. "Where's the Doctor?"

His smile faltered. "It's always the Doctor with you, isn't it? Have you ever considered that there were more important things in life except for your precious Doctor?"

Her mind flitted over the last year of being here in this alternate dimension. She hadn't once gone looking for Mickey. After Ten had showed up and made her feel like she always hope the Doctor would, she hadn't even thought of him. A bit of guilt flared up inside her.

"Look, Mickey, I don't have time to explain, but somethin' really, really wrong is goin' on right now. I need the Doctor to sort this out. Have you seen him?"

His smile dropped away completely, replaced by a deep scowl. "Yeah, I've seen him. Both of 'em. But he's a bit busy. Don't really have time for you."

She stilled looking him over. "Mickey, what are you talkin' about?"

He crossed his arms over his chest like he did when he was trying to be tough. "Why don't you just forget about him. He's forgotten about you."

She shook her head, chewing on her lower lip. "No. You don't know him. He wouldn't... He _can't_ forget about me." She turned away from him, scanning the area around her. He had to be somewhere around here. "Doctor!" she called out again.

"Rose, he can't here you." The sneer on Mickey's face sent a chill down her spine.

She stepped up closer to him, not holding back as she grabbed fistfuls of the front of his shirt and pulling him closer to her. "Where is the Doctor?"

"Which one?" he breathed back at her.

"Both of them!" she shrieked in frustration.

He jerked her hands from the front of her shirt and took a step back. "It doesn't work that way, Rose. You can't always have everything you want. It wasn't any choice between me and him, was it? Wasn't ever even a choice for you."

She gritted her teeth together. "I'm not playin' this game with you." 

"No games, Rose. You need to decide. Both of them need you." He backed up to a pair of doors in the far wall. His eyes fixed on hers, he pulled the one to his right open first. Nine was on the other side, his leather jacket gone, replaced with big robes. Fire burned behind him. Screams filled the air. He shouted orders and men ran around him.

"Doctor!" She took a step forward automatically, eyes riveted on the carefully hidden fear in his eyes.

She didn't get any farther before he pushed that door closed. He reached over, pulling open the door to the left of him. Ten was still back where she had left him, on the beach. Somehow he'd gotten half buried in the sand and was sinking deeper. He was clawing at the ground around him, tears coursing down his cheeks as he called something out. His words were lost under the roar of the ocean as it inched towards him.

She saw just enough to break her heart before Mickey pushed that door closed as well. "So who's it gonna be, huh, Rose? Which one of your precious Doctors are you gonna sacrifice the other for? Who is worth abandoning everything for?"

Tears brimming in her eyes, she squared her shoulders against Mickey's harsh glare. What was she supposed to do? She was just a stupid shop girl from London.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: Sorry for the delay on this chapter. I had to re-watch GitF again to get the dialogue down. I hate that episode. -_- So I avoided it. Which means, consequently, that I avoided proceeding with this.**

**Anyways, here's the lovely chapter for you. Enjoy. Two more chapters to go!**

"_Doctor!" The ground beneath her feet started shaking, pitching her from side to side._

"_Rose!" The Doctor twisted away from the pit, keeping his eyes on hers. "Rose, be careful! The ground is un—" His sentence was lost as the ground beneath him gave way, sending him tumbling down into the darkness. "DOCTOR!" Rose shrieked after his vanishing form, scrambling towards the edge of the pit._

He'd been swallowed up by the darkness before she even reached the edge of the hole. She leaned over, bracing herself on the metal rim, searching for him desperately. There was no sign of where he had disappeared. "Doctor!" she cried out again.

There was no answer.

She scrambled to her feet, running back towards the lift. Maybe there was someone up there who could help her get the Doctor back. Maybe there was something she could use to get down to him. Maybe...

The door snicked closed behind her, and she jabbed impatiently at the button. She paced around in the small space as it zoomed upwards, chewing on her bottom lip. He would be fine, right? He had made it out last time. But she had to help him. There had to be _something_ she could use.

She stopped in front of the doors, jabbing at the button impatiently again. Couldn't this thing move faster?

It ground to a halt at the top of the space, and she sucked in a lungful of air before running forward into the base. "Mr. Jefferson? Zachary? ...Toby?" As much as the last name lodged in her throat, she would be grateful to see anyone here. But all that echoed back to her was silence.

"Alright, so the Doctor's down in the pit with possibly nothing," she muttered to herself, tugging on her hair. "There's gotta be somethin' in here to get to him. Jet pack? Don't be ridiculous, Rose. You've been to the year five billion, seen flyin' cars and genetically engineered people and a space ship stalking a person from the 1800s, but there never seems to be a jet pack, does there?"

She skidded down one of the hallways, looking around her. If only she'd paid more attention to the layout of the ship the first time. She could know where the equipment was. Maybe there was some kind of suit or cable or something...

She didn't even look around as she ran through the Ood habitation center, for fear that one last Ood might be lurking in the corner.

She ran through hallways empty and completely void of any life.

But as she rounded one corner, she spotted light up ahead. She quickened her step. "Is anyone there?" she called out.

She slowed to a stop before she was fully in the room.

A glass wall blocked her from entering. She knew, from not too long ago, that it was a one-way mirror and the people on the other side couldn't see her.

The Doctor stood in the middle of a lavish sitting room. But he wasn't alone. He stepped up close to Madame du Pompadour, keeping his voice low so that he wouldn't startle her.

"Reinette, you're gonna have to trust me. I need to find out what they're looking for. There's only one way of doing that. Won't hurt a bit." He reached his hands out, wrapping his long fingers around her ears and pressing his fingers to her temple.

She blinked a few times in shock and closed her eyes. "Fireplace Man. You are inside my mind!"

A lump started growing in Rose's throat. This is what had happened as soon as he had sent her and Mickey out of the room?

"Oh dear, Reinette. You've had some cowboys in here."

"You're in my memories. You walk among them."

Had he sent her away so that she didn't witness him doing something so... intimate? She couldn't find another word for it.

"If there's anything you don't want me to see, just imagine a door and close it. I won't look."

She knew he'd been doing something with Reinette. He'd left her and Mickey to be stranded and almost chopped up by the clockwork men for hours.

"Ooh, actually, there's a door just there. You might want to..." Reinette smirked up at him. "Ooh, actually, there's several."

"To walk among the memories of another living soul... Do you ever get used to this?"

"I don't make a habit of it."

Rose felt her heart buoyed just a little bit by that sentence. Maybe that's why he'd never... Maybe that's why he stayed away from anything like this with her. There had been a sense of urgency in dealing with Reinette. He couldn't be as careful as he was with her. He had to get to the bottom of whatever he was doing as fast as he could.

"How can you resist?"

"What age are you?"

Despite the Doctor's eyes staying closed, Reinette opened her eyes again. "So impertinent a question so early in the conversation." She looked him up and down in a way that made Rose feel angry and possessive and just the tiniest bit sad all at the same time. "How promising."

"Not my question, theirs... You're twenty-three and for some reason that means you're not old enough."

Suddenly, Reinette jerked back, her eyes blinking rapidly without opening.

"Sorry, you might find old memories re-awakening. Side-effect."

"Oh, such a lonely childhood."

"It'll pass. Stay with me." His hold on her tightened.

"Oh, Doctor. So lonely. So very, very alone."

Without opening his eyes, the Doctor's face crinkled into lines of confusion. "What do you mean, alone? You've never been alone in your life." He opened his eyes, coming to a realization at the same time as Rose. "When did you start calling me 'Doctor?'"

"Such a lonely little boy. Lonely then and lonelier now." She opened her own eyes to meet his. "How can you bear it?"

He pulled his hands away from her and took a step back. "How did you do that?" 

"A door once opened may be stepped through in either direction."

Rose nearly missed the last bit. She was still caught on Reinette's earlier words. _Lonely then and lonelier now._ What could she have possibly meant by that? The Doctor had her, didn't he? Hadn't she promised him forever? Better with two? What had she seen in the Doctor's head?

What did the Doctor actually feel?

Was she really nothing to him? Not even a good enough diversion to keep him away from thoughts of what he had lost?

Lonelier with her than he had been before?

She pressed her hand to the glass, leaning forwards. Doctor... Was she nothing to him?

The Doctor, unaware of her presence, even though he always seemed to know exactly where she was, continued to stare at Madame du Pompadour, mouth slightly open, shoulders heaving.

"Oh Doctor. My lonely Doctor. Dance with me."

"I can't."

Rose's fingers curled into a fist against the glass. _My Doctor_. She had used those words before. And he was that—_her_ Doctor. How dare this woman make a claim on someone she'd only spoken to for mere minutes of her life when Rose had been traveling with him for over a year now?

"Dance. With. Me."

"This is the night you dance with the king."

"Then first I shall make him jealous."

"I can't."

She had spent the last few weeks tormenting herself over what he had gotten up to with this woman who was so much more cultured than she was, so much closer to the Doctor's own level of intelligence. But she shouldn't have worried. The Doctor kept telling her no. Any minute, he would come back through this glass and find her and Mickey. Mickey had to have been wrong on the time he was gone.

"Doctor. Doctor Who? It's more than just a secret, isn't it?"

Rose's thoughts faltered. Did this woman know more about the Doctor than she did? Had she seen the answer to a question Rose had since starting her travels with the Doctor but had never asked about again because every time she'd brought it up in his last regeneration he had promptly steered the conversation elsewhere?

"What did you see?"

"That there comes a time, Time Lord, when every lonely little boy must learn how to dance." She took his hand and turned to leave the room. This time, the Doctor didn't put up a fuss. He followed her easily out the door, away from Rose.

_He left you,_ a voice whispered in her mind, unbidden. _He left you, for her. After he promised not to leave you. What's stopping him from doing that again?_

She turned away from the mirror angrily. _No! My Doctor has fallen down the pit below. My Doctor came back to me on that satellite. He stopped the Clockwork Robots and rescued Mickey and I and away we went in the TARDIS._

_Only because she _died_, Rose,_ the voice whispered back to her. _He's gonna dump you, someday, somewhere down the road, just like he did Sarah Jane._

She looked around her, looking for anything that might help her get him back from the hole.

_You would be so lucky to at least end up stranded on Earth._

Her nails dug into her palms as she turned back to the mirror, eyes flashing angrily.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note: I love the Master. I really do. :D Anyways, here's your next installment of Paradox. We've just got a quick epilogue to go, and then we'll be all done. I hope everyone has enjoyed this crazy ride. There will **_**definitely**_** be more stories to come in this universe, as I still want to bring Doctor Donna in and now I have the Master tied up in some room on the TARDIS with the possibility to play with him whenever I want. Thank you for all of your support thus far.**

**Still looking for a beta. Let me know if you're interested.**

_She saw just enough to break her heart before Mickey pushed that door closed as well. "So who's it gonna be, huh, Rose? Which one of your precious Doctors are you gonna sacrifice the other for? Who is worth abandoning everything for?"_

_Tears brimming in her eyes, she squared her shoulders against Mickey's harsh glare._

"No."

Mickey's sneer faltered. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"Means no. I'm not gonna pick between them." She blinked back her tears, standing up even straighter.

Mickey blinked at her a few times. "Rose, baby, I don't think you understand. You don't have time to save both of 'em. Which one will it be?"

"No." She stepped up closer, jabbing her finger into Mickey's chest. "The Doctors are strong, and clever, and he was rescuin' himself long before I came 'round. He can do it again. The Doctor may want me, but he doesn't need me. Just as I don' need him.

"And you are not Mickey, so come off it. Show me who you really are."

~R/R~R/R~R/R~R/R~

_She looked around her, looking for anything that might help her get him back from the hole._

You would be so lucky to at least end up stranded on Earth.

_Her nails dug into her palms as she turned back to the mirror, eyes flashing angrily._

"I'm not gonna leave him!" she said out loud, stepping up closer to the mirror. "I made my decision a long time ago. I promised him forever, and that's what I'm gonna give him. He didn't leave me then, and he's not left me now." This Doctor, if she could somehow make contact with him without messing up any timelines, could help her get back to her Doctor. She pushed on the glass where it turned open the last time.

It didn't move.

She leaned her whole weight against it, but it still wouldn't budge. She moved a bit away before running forward, jumping into it. Her shoulder crashed against the mirror, but it didn't even crack. She stumbled back away from it, holding her shoulder with a light groan.

She looked around her, looking for anything that would help.

Her eyes fell on a fork lift.

~R/R~R/R~R/R~R/R~

Mickey's blinking was almost manic at that point. "What are you talkin' about?"

"Mickey wouldn't make me choose. Mickey would maybe make me choose between him and the Doctor, but he's never tried to understand the Doctor before, an' he wouldn't try to make me pick now. Mickey is back home, safe, getting on with his life. Who are you an' what are you doin' here?"

He backed away from her until he ran into the wall. "Rose—"

"No! Don't "Rose" me. You will tell me who you are right now, and you will give me the Doctors back, because I'm not playin' you're game anymore."

Mickey stood, staring at her, slack-jawed. Was it just her or was he getting a little blurred around the edges. She looked around her. The walls were bleeding together, warping into odd shapes. It was like the room itself was dissolving. She turned back to the pseudo-Mickey, but he was gone.

She wheeled back to face the empty, collapsing room, hands on her hips. "Is this the Master's doing? Why don't you come and face me, Master? No more of these games. You think you're a match for the Doctor, then you better—"

Her words dropped out of her throat as the floor splintered beneath her, hurtling her into darkness.

~R/R~R/R~R/R~R/R~

She gunned the engine, gritting her teeth. She turned the forklift around, squaring it up to the mirror. "Right then. This should get his attention. Then we'll find his TARDIS and he can take me to the Doctor."

She stomped down on the pedal and the tires squealed. She closed her eyes, bracing against the impact as the glass in front of her shattered.

~R/R~R/R~R/R~R/R~

She woke with a gasp, jerking against the strap across her forehead and the wires coming out of her face and arms. She heard another gasp beside her, and twisted to the right to see Other Rose struggling against the chair she was strapped to as well.

She tore the loose straps from her wrists, and with a slight shift the wires stuck to her skin popped off. The strap across her forehead was torn away and her and Other Rose were on their feet, looking around the room.

It was dimly lit, massive, with a low ceiling. A large pillar of metallic rods and chords tumbled down from the ceiling to the center of five chairs. The heads of the chairs ringed the chords. The Doctors lay on the other three chairs, eyes closed, perfectly still except for slightly twitching hands and pained facial expressions, their lips moving.

"What? No no no no no, this can't be right! It can't be you two!" Rose twisted to see the blond man from the projection, popping up from behind a huge and complex control panel. He ran around it, at the same manic pace the Doctor did everything, stopping just short of them. "My money was on old gruff Northern burr there. How did two stupid, tiny little human children get out?"

The two Roses didn't even have to look at each other, they both rushed forward at the same time, trying to grab the man, but he danced back out of their reach. "What did you do?"

"Uh uh uh!" he taunted, holding his hands up towards them. "This isn't part of the game. You two—"

Other Rose stepped forward, her arms folded across her chest. "Didn't you hear me, _Master_? I told you: I'm not playin' any more of your games!"

His eyes slid half-closed, a shiver running up his body and a smile lighting up on his face. "I like it when you use my name."

Rose finally glanced at herself, both of their eyebrows quirking up. _Was this guy for real?_

"How'd you get us into this place? _When_ did you get us?" Rose asked, taking a discreet step to the left.

His eyes immediately riveted on her. Another of those slow, creepy smiles stretched his face. "Time's a tricky thing. Moves so much faster in the mind than it does in reality. Sometimes, there's just a slight... lapse between the two."

_Rose's Doctor appeared at her side, sheepishly offering her his hand as well. She climbed down more slowly from the chair, took his hand, and walked between the two Doctors to the door._

_A shriek sounded outside; the voice Rose recognized as her own. The three of them charged forward and out the door._

_The light outside blinded her completely. She blinked the blackness away from her vision, stopping to see Other Rose and Other Ten standing a little ways away from them, hands still clasped, blinking around them in confusion._

They'd never made it to the church.

"And wha's that machine do?" she gestured vaguely to the column of wires that the Doctors were still hooked up to. While the Master's eyes were still on her and the machine, Other Rose took a few steps forward and to the right. "Is it supposed to drain the Doctors' life energy or somethin'? Why would you hook us up to something like that? We don't have much of a life span at all."

Something close to a frown crossed the Master's face. "I wouldn't expect your puny little human brain to understand. And you," he jerked his head to Other Rose who had been inching towards him, "can just stay right there."

They both rocked back on their heels, crossing their arms over their chests and glaring at the Master. "Wha' were you even tryin', mate? How was this little thing possibly gonna end? How were you gonna win against three Doctors?"

He bounced towards Rose, then, getting uncomfortably close to her face. "You see, darling Rose," he gestured to the twitching and whimpering Doctors, "there are other ways to win. One little seed of doubt. One little planted idea..." He grabbed her by the upper arms, and his fingers started tapping out a four beat rhythm. "That's all it takes to win. The Doctor's locked in a prison of his own making. Didn't have to keep him here forever to get whatever dirty little thought wormed into his brain. Just long enough. One little thought, and he'll be tearing himself apart about it for the rest of his lives." She couldn't help but shiver as he bared his teeth at her.

"Righ', enough of this." He turned away from her as Other Rose's voice interrupted him. She stood a few paces away, a length of chains in her hand, swinging one end with a heavy hook on it.

Rose didn't waste time in dropping down and out of his grip, spinning to knock the feet out of under him. As soon as he stumbled back and hit the ground, Other Rose was on him. Between the two of them, they had the chains wrapped tightly around him with his hands secured behind his back and far away from the hook that held it all together.

"We may not have the brain of a Time Lord," Rose said, leaning on the shoulder of her counterpart, "but I'll tell you what we do have. Jericho Street Junior School Under 7's gymnastics team. We've got the bronze."

"Right, best be checkin' on our boys now, shouldn't we?" Other Rose interrupted, stepping closer to the three Time Lords still strapped to the tables.

Eyes tightly pinched shut, hands gripping so hard the knuckles were turning white, her Doctor was trembling on the table, deep lines on his face holding the tracks down which his tears ran. His lips were moving, but she couldn't make out what he was saying over the hum of the machines. "Doctor?" she asked tentatively, her voice breaking as she reached out a hand to wipe at the tears on his cheeks.

He didn't respond to her touch. She brushed a hand down his cheek more urgently, but he remained oblivious to her. She leaned in, putting her ear just above his mouth to hear what he was saying.

"Rose. Rose, please. Please come back, please. Rose..." He kept muttering her name and the pleas for her return over and over. His voice was thick with pain. She pulled back a little, feeling tears stinging her own eyes.

"Doctor! Doctor, I'm here. Doctor, please." She touched his face and hair more urgently. "Please, Doctor, wake up. I'm right here." She turned distraught eyes up to the Other Rose, who was doing much the same as her as she moved between the other two Doctors. "What are they calling out for?" she asked, almost afraid of the answer.

Other Rose's gaze lifted to meet hers. "Ten keeps asking for me. Nine keeps asking what he's supposed to do. They both sound so scared, so heartbroken. We've gotta get them outta here!"

She wheeled back on the Master, who was contentedly sitting where they had left them. His feet were tapping out that same four-beat rhythm, and barely contained glee was on his face as he fidgeted. Other Rose stormed over to him, towering above him. "How do we release the Doctors?"

The Master grinned back up at her. "Not telling!" he cackled gleeful. He sounded like a child!

Other Rose lifted her foot, almost looking like she was ready to kick him. Rose hurried over, pulling her away by the hand. "I doubt we're gonna get much outta him. C'mon, there's gotta be something on the control board over here."

The big panel was a maze of wires and buttons. It made the TARDIS console look like a sane mess. _What if we hurt the Doctor? _ran the thoughts through Rose's mind. _What if we ruin his head forever? Oh god, what if we don't pick the right switch? What if—?_

She didn't get any more time to think about it as Other Rose slammed her fist down on a big red button. The Master scowled at them even as the Doctors woke up, gasping for air the same way she had when she escaped. She was to them in a second, helping her Doctor tear his straps and wires off.

As soon as his hands were free, he pulled Rose onto the chair with him, pulling her into his lap and folding his arms around her. He buried his face in her hair, but she could still hear his voice: "Oh, Rose Rose Rose Rose Rose. You're still here. Oh, you're still here."

She held him back just as tightly. "Of course I am, Doctor. I told you, I'm never gonna leave you." She peaked over the top of his head at the others. Nine was sitting up on the end of his bed, head in his hands, shaking it any time Other Rose offered any assistance. She was placed quite firmly in Other Ten's lap, folded into his arms much the same way she was. But Other Ten didn't have his face buried in her shoulder in grief. He'd already dealt with losing his Rose and somehow being reunited with the Rose in his lap before. While he held her tightly against him, his eyes were on her and her Doctor.

Her thoughts were drawn back to the Time Lord clinging to her as he let out a great huff of breath into her neck before slowly pulling back from her. He squeezed her again before slowly loosening his hold, sitting up to look at the others. "What happened?" he asked, coughing to cover the cracking of his voice.

"The Master," Other Rose jerked her hand over to the man trying—and failing—to squirm to his feet away from them, "caught us the first time we exited the TARDIS. He knocked us out and strapped us into these machines. This whole adventure was in some sort of shared consciousness thing or something."

Nine was the first to his feet, shaking out his limbs as he slowly strolled over the now-sulking Master. "Just like him to play dirty." Nine didn't bother refraining from tipping him over with his foot. The Master's face connected with the ground, and he glared up at him from his position of being pressed into the stone below. "So what're we gonna do with him?"

Other Ten scratched the back of his neck. "We've got some containment rooms in the TARDIS. I'm sure we can find somewhere to put him so he can't cause any more problems." Ignoring whatever fuss the Master was kicking up, he turned his eyes to the two TARDISes parked next to each other. "At least he didn't do any damage to your old girl. Should probably get you two back before this one has a problem to get you two stuck here again, shouldn't we?" He got to his feet, helping Other Rose up as well.

"Probably. Best be off before we learn any more about our future than we already have." Her Doctor squeezed her hand before sliding her off his lap so he could stand. A shudder ran through his whole body, but he just shook it off, grinning back at them in a way Rose knew he would every time he tried to hide something that was bothering him. "Can't say this wasn't an adventure, eh, Rose?" She didn't even bother nodding back.

Hand holding more tightly to hers than it normally did, he lead them back to their own TARDIS. "That offer still stands," Other Ten called after them, making them stop in the doorway. "If, for some reason, you ever find yourself back in this world, don't be afraid to look us up."

Her Doctor smiled back at them before leading her through the doors to the familiar, comforting hum. She could feel the TARDIS working through her head like a balm to smooth out the false memories. She just hoped she was doing the same for the Doctor.

"Right, back to our world, shall we?" He didn't look at her as he bounded around the console, flicking a switch that sent them shuddering off again.

"Doctor?" He still didn't look at her. Not until the shuddering came to a stop. He pretended that whatever was on the display screen was more important than her. "Doctor," she called again, impatiently.

Finally his eyes lifted to hers. A flicker of that deep sadness was still there, but it was buried away so quickly that she would've missed it if she hadn't been looking for it. "You alright?"

A grin split his face. "I'm always alright."

"You know I'm always gonna be here for you, yeah?" She did her best to squash the thoughts of what Other Ten had told her, of her future.

His thoughts had to be along the same line as his smile slipped away to become something sadder, but truer. "Yeah. Thanks for that, Rose."


End file.
